AUTHOR=Park Jinme , Elbert Thomas , Kim Seog Ju , Park Jinah 

TITLE=The Contribution of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression to Insomnia in North Korean Refugee Youth

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00211

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00211

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Refugees are exposed to multiple traumatic and stressful events and thereby are at higher risk for developing a variety of psychological sequelae including PTSD. However, the relation of PTSD to other mental health conditions has not been fully revealed in refugee populations. The present study investigated relationships among trauma exposure, PTSD, depression and insomnia in North Korean refugee youth. 74 refugee youth were assessed for exposure to traumatic events, PTSD, depression and insomnia symptoms. The results showed high rates of multiple trauma exposures among the refugee youth and high incidences of co-occurring symptoms of PTSD and insomnia in those who have multiple trauma. Furthermore, the overall symptoms and four cluster symptoms of PTSD were strongly correlated with insomnia in addition to depression. In the path model to predict insomnia, PTSD affected insomnia only through depression, indicating that the greater levels of PTSD suffer, the greater the likelihood for developing sleep problems via depression. The present study indicates how sleep problems relate to trauma-related symptoms, i.e. PTSD and depression in refugee populations, and highlights the need for further investigation of the specific relation between sleep problems and trauma-related symptoms for effective evaluation and intervention.