Correlates of post-traumatic stress and physical symptoms in Nepali adults under political turmoil

This study investigated whether there is a relationship between the political violence that took place in Nepal and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and physical symptoms. Eighty-five Nepali citizens completed brief questionnaires assessing background information, whether they were directly exposed to political violence, the presence of PTSD-like symptomatology as well as physical complaints. Participants also completed a measure of perceived psychological proximity to the political events using a novel application of the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self-Measure (PRISM). Old-age, little education and residing in a rural village were associated with more PTSD-like symptomatology. Both direct exposure and perceived psychological proximity to the political violence were associated with more PTSD-like symptoms. Most parameters were unrelated to physical symptoms. Interestingly, PRISM-distance moderated the effects of exposure to violence on PTSD-like symptoms: in participants exposed to violence, those with big PRISM-distances reported lower PTSD-like symptoms than those with little PRISM distances. The theoretical, methodological and cultural aspects of these results are discussed.