Spiritual Well-Being, Cortisol, and Suicidality in Croatian War Veterans Suffering from PTSD

• Published in: Journal of religion and health Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 464 - 473
• Main Authors: Mihaljevic, Sanea, Vuksan-usa, Bjanka, Marcinko, Darko, Koic, Elvira, Kusevic, Zorana, Jakovljevic, Miro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer Science + Business Media 01.06.2011; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aging; Clinical Psychology; Croatia; Health Surveys; Hope; Humans; Hydrocortisone - blood; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental illness; Middle Aged; Military psychiatry; Original Paper; Personal Satisfaction; Post traumatic stress disorder; Public Health; Religious Studies; Risk Assessment; Spiritual belief systems; Spirituality; Steroids; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - blood; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide; Suicides & suicide attempts; Veterans; Veterans - psychology; Volunteerism; Warfare; Wellbeing; Croatia; PTSD; Cortisol; Spiritual well-being; Suicidality
• ISSN: 0022-4197; 1573-6571
• DOI: 10.1007/s10943-010-9383-2

We present our preliminary results of work that aims to observe the relationship between the cortisol level, the level of spiritual well-being, and suicidal tendencies in Croatian war veterans suffering from PTSD. The survey was conducted on 17 PTSD veterans who completed the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. The plasma cortisol level was obtained by venepuction at 8.00, 12.00, 13.00, 16.00, and 22.00 h. Results showed that veterans with higher spiritual well-being scores had lower cortisol levels, and evening cortisol levels showed significant correlation with suicidal risk. The results of the present study could be a stimulus for further investigation into spiritually based interventions, exploring their impact both on mental status and physical health.