Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) symptoms in mothers of educatable mentally retarded children compared with mothers of normal children

It can be a catastrophic stress for a mother when she finds out that her child is mentally retarded. Furthermore, presence of a mentally retarded child in the family may be a source of chronic stress which predisposes family members and especially the mother to further emotional crises and extreme stress reactions and disorders. This study was aimed to assess and compare PTSD symptoms in mothers with educatable mentally retarded children and mothers with normal children.

In this cross- sectional study, 80 mothers including 40 with educatable mentally retarded children and 40 with normal children were enrolled. Participant mothers were randomly selected using student profiles of routine intermediary schools and specified intermediary schools for the mentally retarded in Kashan . PTSD symptoms scale(PSS) was administered to mothers to assess PTSD symptoms. PSS includes 17 questions that specify the criteria of PTSD according to DSM-IV and assess PTSD symptoms intensity.

PSS-mean score was significantly higher in mothers who had mentally- retarded children(P < 0.01).

Mothers of mentally retarded children have a high vulnerability to stress. Appropriated plans should be designed for prevention and early diagnosis of PTSD symptoms in this group as well as for support and intervention.