Psychological health in veterans of the Iran-Iraq imposed war, 22 years after the war ended

Iraq -Iran war during the 1980–1988 has left various detrimental physical, mental, social and economic effects on Soldiers, veterans and their families. These effects persist for years after the war ended. In this study the psychological health of Isfahanian veterans 22 years after the war was studied.

Methods and Materials: 

Among all veterans registered by Veterans and Martyrs Affair Foundation (VMAF) of Isfahan province, 330 veterans using systematic random sampling were selected based on the VMAF list. Demographic questionnaire and SCL-90-R was performed on them.

The average age of veterans was 45 years. The most veterans have been injured at the youth. Approximately 24 percent of veterans have a college education and about 39 percent have completed high school. Veterans with a combination of physical and mental injury and physical injury alone have the highest frequency. 19.3 percent of veterans have experienced prisoners of war. Frequency of retired veterans was 1.5 time higher than employed veteran. Somatization, obsessive - compulsive, aggression, anxiety, depression and paranoid ideation, respectively are the most common disorders and problems in veterans. Now almost half of veterans have with psychiatric disorders and mental problems. Veterans from 55 to 46 percent of injury have the most frequency of mental problems among veterans with different percentages of injury and the number of disability in veterans is greater, the psychological problems is more.

22 years after the war, half of the veterans are suffering from some sort of psychological problems.