Büssing Arndt, Recchia Daniela Rodrigues, Toussaint Loren L
Professorship Quality of Life, Spirituality and Coping, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Herdecke, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, IA, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2018 Nov 13;9:582. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00582. eCollection 2018.
In missions, soldiers are confronted with difficult situations which may impair their physical and mental health. As the resulting problems are commonly regarded as stigmata, soldiers may obviate talking about their experiences and try to oppress them. It was aim of this study to clarify whether soldiers do perceive needs to reflect back on life, to seek release from "open aspects" of their life, and to talk with others about fears and worries, to forgive others or to be forgiven. Further we intended to clarify whether these needs were related to stress perception, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) symptoms and reduced life satisfaction on the one hand, and religious trust as a resource to cope on the other hand. Cross-sectional survey of 1,097 German soldiers (92% men). Existential/spiritual needs and mental health indicators, including stress perception, PTSD symptoms, life satisfaction, were assessed using standardized questionnaires. For 30% of soldiers it was important to reflect on life, 23% had a strong need to clarify open aspects of life, 30% had a strong need to talk with others about their fears and worries, 13% had strong needs to forgive, and 13% had a strong need to be forgiven. Soldiers' needs to clarify open (and probably conflicting) aspects of life were moderately related to their intention to forgive others and to be forgiven (s > 0.35). Soldiers treated in the hospital for psycho-mental trauma had significantly higher needs scores than soldiers still serving on active duty, particularly for the need to talk with others ( = 39.1; < 0.0001) and to be forgiven ( = 26.0; < 0.0001). Across all soldiers the best predictors of these needs were PTSD symptoms and stress perception, albeit with relatively weak predictive power (βs < 0.25; s < 0.24). The process of life reflection and subsequent intention to solve conflicting situations and experiences can be considered a process of coping with one's own failures, guilt, and mistakes. It should be noted that these needs were significantly stronger in soldiers with trauma. Addressing unmet needs may help them to communicate and to reject the stigma of "weakness."
在执行任务时，士兵们会面临可能损害其身心健康的困难情况。由于由此产生的问题通常被视为耻辱，士兵们可能会避免谈论自己的经历，并试图压抑这些经历。本研究的目的是弄清楚士兵们是否确实意识到需要反思生活，从生活的“未解决方面”寻求解脱，与他人谈论恐惧和担忧，原谅他人或被他人原谅。此外，我们还打算弄清楚这些需求一方面是否与压力感知、创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状以及生活满意度降低有关，另一方面是否与作为应对资源的宗教信仰有关。对1097名德国士兵（92%为男性）进行了横断面调查。使用标准化问卷评估了生存/精神需求和心理健康指标，包括压力感知、PTSD症状、生活满意度。对于30%的士兵来说，反思生活很重要，23%的士兵强烈需要弄清楚生活中的未解决方面，30%的士兵强烈需要与他人谈论自己的恐惧和担忧，13%的士兵有强烈的原谅需求，13%的士兵有强烈的被原谅需求。士兵们弄清楚生活中未解决（且可能相互冲突）方面的需求与他们原谅他人和被他人原谅的意愿中度相关（s>0.35）。因心理创伤在医院接受治疗的士兵的需求得分显著高于仍在服现役的士兵，尤其是在与他人交谈的需求方面（=39.1；<0.0001）和被原谅的需求方面（=26.0；<0.0001）。在所有士兵中，这些需求的最佳预测因素是PTSD症状和压力感知，尽管预测能力相对较弱（βs<0.25；s<0.24）。生活反思以及随后解决冲突情况和经历的意愿的过程可以被视为应对自身失败、内疚和错误的过程。应该指出的是，这些需求在受过创伤的士兵中明显更强。满足未得到满足的需求可能有助于他们进行交流，并摆脱“软弱”的耻辱感。
