Posttraumatic stress disorder, general psychopathology, and suicidality among Yazidi women in Iraq kidnapped and/or raped by ISIS in 2014

Arch Womens Ment Health. 2025 May 20. doi: 10.1007/s00737-025-01594-x. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The current study investigated the mental health of Yazidi women exposed to kidnapping and sexual violence among Yazidi women survivors of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacks during captivity in the 2014 genocide period in Iraq.

METHODS: This cross-sectional population-based study was conducted at the Internal Displaced People (IDP) camps located in the Duhok Governorate, Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG). The data were collected from September 2023 to May 2024. The KRG granted the principal researcher and 2 assistants access to 7 of the 18 IDP camps in Duhok. The number of households for inclusion in each camp was selected proportional to the total number of households in each selected camp by division of each camp’s census into the total census of all camps combined, and all adult women > 18 years of age in these households were deemed eligible for participation in the study. The study sample included 215 Yazidi women aged 18 to 41 years. Face-to-face interviewing was conducted by the first author and trained clinical psychologists, following structured questionnaires: a 6-item demographic questionnaire, The Event Scale (ES), Suicidality (3 questions included suicidality ideation, suicide attempt, and suicidal behavior), Posttraumatic Check List for DSM-5 (PCL-5), and General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28).

RESULTS: Women’s current mental health following rape during captivity revealed risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), general psychopathology, and suicidality in association with kidnapping and sexual violence, with odds ratios between 3.11 and 4.89 for the three main variables (PTSD risk, General psychopathology and suicidality) in multivariate models.

CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that ISIS captivity and wartime rapes had extensive long-term consequences on the mental health of women survivors. The high prevalence of PTSD emphasizes the need for culturally sensitive diagnostic and therapeutic services to address the intermediate and long-term consequences of wartime rape.

PMID:40389772 | DOI:10.1007/s00737-025-01594-x