Explaining the Predictive Relationship Between Early Life Trauma and Comorbid Psychiatric Symptoms Among Convicts in Pak
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Explaining the Predictive Relationship Between Early Life Trauma and Comorbid Psychiatric Symptoms Among Convicts in Pakistan Nimrah Ishfaq 1
&
Anila Kamal 1
# Society for Police and Criminal Psychology 2020
Abstract The purpose of the current study was to measure the prevalence of traumatic events among 479 male convicts imprisoned in Central Jail of Mianwali (CJM) and Central Jail of Faisalabad (CJF) Punjab, Pakistan. The study was aimed to explain the relationship between multiple trauma exposure and comorbid psychiatric symptoms among convicts. Data was collected by using self-reported Cross-Cutting Symptoms Measure (American Psychiatric Association. American Psychiatric Publication, Washington, D.C; 2013) and Early Trauma Inventory-SR Short Form (ETISR-SF) (Bremner et al. J Nerv Ment Dis, 195(3), 211–218; 2007). ETISR-SF was translated into Urdu and confirmed the four-factor structure for the construct measuring general trauma, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Findings of the study showed that perceived severity and emotional experience at the time of traumatic event mediated the predictive relationship between trauma exposure and comorbid symptomology. The relationship was strengthened by urban residential area and multiple cases filed in current conviction among convicts imprisoned in central jails of Punjab, Pakistan. Findings have implication for a unique and at-risk sample of convicts by highlighting the areas which should be targeted in order to improve the mental health of prisoners and control violent reoffending. Keywords Imprisonment . Trauma . Comorbid psychiatric symptomology . Convicts . Mental health . Punjab . Pakistan
Introduction The experience of incarceration is often reported as straining and harmful for inmates with mental illness (Valentine et al. 2015). Researchers have identified jails as a disordered, violent, and chaotic setting that might worsen inmate needs and exacerbate challenges related to physical and mental health. The factors, like lack of privacy, imposed loneliness, inadequate facilities, behavioral issues, and insecurity about the future, often either lead to the development or intensify already diagnosed psychological disorders (Durcan and Zwemstra 2014; Toman et al. 2018). Prisons typically have limited resources and usually are less well equipped to provide services to the at-risk population with special needs (Carson 2014; Minton and Zeng 2015). Prisons in Pakistan are
* Nimrah Ishfaq [email protected] Anila Kamal [email protected] 1
National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
overcrowded with insufficient mental health facilities or professional assistance (Hussain 2014; Tareen and Tareen 2016). Psychiatric comorbidity among prisoners is evident in the prisons of Pakistan (Abbasi and Khan 2009; Hassan et al. 2017). In Pakistan, psychiatric symptoms like anger and sleep disturbance were the most prevalent symptoms in prison samples and were linked to reoffending behavior (Ishfaq and Kamal 2019), and they mig
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