Violence during the civil war in Guatemala from 1960 to 1996 resulted in the development of significant mental health problems and conditions for the county's people, according to a new multi-institution study from researchers under the Guatemala-Penn Partnership . People who experienced or witnessed violence were four times more likely to suffer from alcohol-related disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the civil war, researchers from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and Brown University report this week in the American Journal of Public Health.
The mental health consequences resulting from violent events decreased in the postwar period, suggesting a nation in recovery.
The study was co-led by Victor D. Puac-Polanco, MD, MSCE, of the Epidemiology Department at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, formerly of Penn's MSCE program in the department of Epidemiology, and senior author Charles C. Branas, PhD, of the department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
The researchers' findings occur amidst reports that 40 percent of Guatemalans continue to have no mental health services.
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