Mental Findings in Trauma Victims

In medico-legal evaluation of trauma patients, the bio-psychological effects of the trauma and the severity of the injuries require to be evaluated. In this study, assuming the fact that psychiatric assessment is not taken into consideration in physical trauma cases, we planned to show the presence of psychological trauma in our medico-legally evaluated patients who presented with different types of traumas and to review the mental findings and diagnoses in trauma victims.

We retrospectively analyzed the hospital records of 1975 patients aged 18 years or older who presented to the Department of Forensic Medicine at Dokuz Eylül University School of Medicine for medico-legal evaluation between 1999 and 2009. Psychiatric assessment was performed in 142 patients by the Department of Psychiatry. The data contained in medico-legal reports and patient records were then examined with respect to patients' age, gender, nature of traumatic events, psychiatric diagnoses, descriptive characteristics of the patients, severity of trauma and past history of mental disorder and trauma experience. Results of the medicolegal evaluations were also analyzed.

Of the 142 patients, 80 (56.3%) were female and their average age was 40.30±17.17 years. The most frequent traumatic events were traffic accidents (29.6%) and violence-related blunt force trauma (28.9%). When the distribution of the most common psychiatric diagnoses was examined, it was found that anxiety disorders were found in 69 cases (48.6%), adjustment disorders were found in 16 cases (11.3%) and mood disorders were found in 12 cases (8.5%). Among anxiety disorders, acute stress disorder (n=39) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (n=27) were the most common ones. In 27 cases of the 142, it was determined that, psychiatric symptoms and findings did not meet the diagnostic criteria of any psychiatric disorder. Diagnosis of psychiatric disorder was not significantly related with traumatic experiences, comorbidity, marriage status, education level or lack of health insurance.

We assume elucidating the presence of a psychological trauma is crucial not only for the health benefit but also for legal rights of the patient. The necessity of considering merely the international diagnostic criteria in determining the existence of psychiatric trauma and its severity level can bring forth some difficulties in medico-legal evaluation.