Psychiatric Morbidity among Victims of Violent Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Barkin Ladi, North Central Nigeria, Five Years After: Prevalence and Sociodemographic Correlates

Background: Mental health disorders are common presentations among persons who have faced crisis and other life threatening conditions. Several researchers in the past have tried to study the relationships between violent conflicts and mental health outcome. In this study, we assessed the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of psychiatric disorders among victims of violent conflicts five years after ethno-religious conflicts in Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, NorthCentral Nigeria. Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey of victims of ethno-religious crisis in some communities of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria. A total of 144 respondents were interviewed. Results: Majority of our study population were females (68.1%), while the mean age of all respondents was 41.2±2.9 years, with 43.8% within the 40-59 years age group. Eighty nine (61.7%) were married, 70.7% had no formal education and 83. 3% involved in low paying jobs. Among the victims, 56.3% had depression, 11.1% dysthymia, 52. 1% Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while 48.6%, had generalized anxiety disorders (GAD). Those with alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence were 19.4% and 8.3% respectively. With regards to the association between conflict, psychiatric morbidities and sociodemographic variables, age was associate with alcohol abuse (<0.001) and alcohol dependence (0.001). Marital status was significantly associated with depression (<0.001), alcohol abuse (<0.001), alcohol dependence (0.001), PTSD (0.020) and GAD (<0.001). Education was only associated with depression (0.010). Conclusion: The study found Depression and PTSD in more than half of the victims studied, with marital status significantly associated with Depression and PTSD among other psychiatric morbidities found in the studied population.