The Comparison of Coping Styles and Defense Mechanisms in PTSD Veterans and non PTSD Veterans

Aims: One of the most important problems of people involved with the war is the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is associated with unpredictable or destructive consequences for the injured person, his or her family, and the commuinity in which he or she lives. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the coping and defense styles in veterans with and without PTSD.
Instrument and In this causal-comparative descriptive study, in 2016, a number of 80 men, participated in the Iran-Iraq war, were selected from Najafabad, Iran by available sampling method; 40 of them suffered from PTSD and 40 had no disorder. The research tools were Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ), Defense Styles Questionnaire (DSQ), and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The data were analyzed by SPSS 21 software, using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).
Findings: The mean scores in emotion-oriented coping style were significantly different in the two groups (p=0.006). Also, the difference between mean scores in undeveloped defensive styles were significant in both groups (p=0.028).
Veterans with PTSD use emotion-oriented coping style and undeveloped defensive styles more than their peers in the control group.