Living with a traumatized partner: Dyadic approach to well-being of war-affected married couples.

Abstract

Objective: Personal well-being is a positive state of mind that involves the whole life experience. Croatian War of Independence has certainly been a life-changing experience for many Croatian families, especially those whose members were actively involved. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of anxiety and depression symptoms on personal and partner's well-being in couples with and without traumatic war experiences. Method: One hundred and ninety-four participants were included in this study and divided into three groups: war veterans without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their wives (34 dyads), war veterans with PTSD and their wives (33 dyads), and nonveteran couples (30 dyads). All completed Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, Personal Well-Being Index, and reported information about war-related experience and mental health diagnosis. We applied two Actor–Partner Interdependence Models with anxiety and depression as predictors and personal well-being as outcome. Results: Our most interesting finding revealed that war veterans with PTSD and their wives demonstrate specific pattern of interaction: significant partner effect showed that husbands' higher anxiety and depression symptoms reduced wives' personal well-being. We also found significant actor effects, showing that symptoms of depression and anxiety have negative effects on personal well-being. Conclusions: It seems that the personal well-being of wives of war veterans with PTSD is doubly burdened by their own and their husbands' emotional state. In the clinical context, this might mean that special attention should be paid to veterans' wives, even when the husband who is suffering from PTSD is the one who primarily seeks professional help.