Is it Enough for Displaced People to Rely on Religious Strategies to Cope? Psychological Perspective

Abstract

More than one decade of terrorist actions have led to widespread of human suffering and population displacements inside and outside of Iraq. Recent studies of the general population have found that internally displaced people (IDPs) had high levels of mental health problems, including anxiety (45-55%), major depression (30-40%), posttraumatic stress symptoms (53-60%), and lack of feeling secure in communicating with others (78.2%), but people tend to use strategies to cope with their problems such as religious strategies. However, to the researcher best knowledge no study has been conducted to investigate the psychological consequences and mental health effects following displacements among Iraqi people, and the extent that religious strategies could mediate the psychological stressors. This study aimed to address this gap in literature by investigating the relationship between religious strategies and some psychological disorders such as symptoms of PTSD, patterns of insecure attachment and behavioral and emotional problems. The sample consisted of 106 adults aged beyween 18-32 years. They were recruited randomly from three camps (1 in Baghdad and 2 in Anbar. Ninety-seven persons with no displacement experience constituted the control. In regard to their post-displacements trauma and behavioral problems, people were assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Attachment Style Classification Questionnaire (ASCQ-15), and spiritual/religious coping (SRC). The results showed that people were found to experience negative alterations in cognitions and mood, avoidance and intrusive thought. PCL-5 revealed that 51.9, 38.7, and 10.9% had full, partial and no-PTSD respectively. The severity and total number of traumatic events independently predicted total BCL, SDQ, and ASCQ scores. However, the SRC was medaiting only the SDQ. Results also showed that there were significant differences between the exposed group and the control on all YCPC, BCL, SDQ, ASCQ, and SRC scales. The clinical and research implications of these conclusions are discussed.