Coping with the Trauma of War at Home and Abroad: The Case of Bosnian Residents and Refugees in Idahoâ•Žs Treasure Valley

It has been widely reported that exposure to war-related trauma leads to psychological difficulties in human beings, and it has been hypothesized that these psychological difficulties may be compounded when people leave their war-torn countries and begin their lives as refugees in a new country. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether members of the Treasure Valley’s Bosnian refugee population experience more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression stemming from the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina than do current Bosnian residents. The results indicated that local Bosnian refugees report more symptoms of PTSD than their Bosnian resident cohort, but not more symptoms of anxiety or depression. Background and Purpose A number of researchers have documented that the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina had a tremendous impact on that nation and its people. Tens of thousands of Bosnian residents were killed, and hundreds of thousands more were subjected to various traumas, including losing family members, suffering sexual assaults, internment in concentration camps, and being displaced from their homes or their country (Sudetic, 1998). Research on survivors of war trauma in general have noted that exposure to traumatic wartime experiences can have an adverse impact on survivors’ mental health (e.g., Beiser and Hou, 2001; Miller et al., 2002; Nelson, 2003), and researchers have confirmed that this is true of survivors of the war in Bosnia as well (e.g., Begic and McDonald, 2005; Carballo et al. 2004; Kucukalic et al., 2003). Relatively little research has been conducted comparing the mental health difficulties faced by war survivors who remain in their country after a war and those who are forced or compel to leave as refugees (as approximately two million Bosnians did during and following the war). Some researchers (e.g., Hein, 1993; Keyes, 2000; Miller et al., 2002; Spasojevic et al., 2000) have maintained that the experience of being a refugee in a new country may compound or exacerbate mental health difficulties caused by exposure to wartime trauma, as refugees often struggle with personal and group identity issues, transition from being known and respected persons in their home countries to anonymous and functionally illiterate residents in their new countries, endure a lack of social supports, and are often either unemployed or underemployed because their diplomas and degrees earned in their home countries are not recognized in their new countries. The purpose of the present study was to investigate, using sophisticated measures of trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression, whether survivors of the war who are currently living in Bosnia-Herzegovina differ systematically in terms of their mental health symptoms from members of the Treasure Valley’s 3,000-strong Bosnian refugee population. It was hypothesized that members of the Bosnian refugee population, due to their displacement, isolation, and underemployment, would report more symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression than their Bosnian resident cohort.