Personal space of war veterans with PTSD - some characteristics and comparison with healthy individuals

The aim of this study was to determine the size of personal space among war veterans with PTSD, compared to healthy individuals, and to examine its associations with some sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

Participants were 83 male war veterans with chronic PTSD and 85 healthy male employees of the medical institutions. Preferred interpersonal distances were assessed by using a stop-distance technique, where male and female research assistants approached the participants from four directions (front, behind, left, right). The patients filled out The Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (M-PTSD).

War veterans with PTSD preferred significantly larger interpersonal distances compared to healthy participants. Larger personal space size was preferred by those who had children, and the largest preferred distances were observed for the approaches from behind. Both samples preferred larger distances when approached by a male person.

The findings of this study contribute to increased understanding of the personal space in patients with PTSD, and may be implemented into prevention of aggressive behavior during psychiatric treatment, and into development of more effective therapeutic strategies.