Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Somatization among Nigerian Soldiers on Combat Operations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between PTSD and somatization among Nigerian soldiers on combat deployment among soldiers deployed to fight the insurgency in North East Nigeria. The participants in the study were 301 Nigerian Army soldiers deployed to the war front. A survey design was used in the and measures used include Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5 (PCL-5) by to assess PTSD while somatization was measured using Patient Health Questionnaire 15 (PHQ 15), by. The relationship between PTSD and Somatization was assessed using Pearson correlation while the moderating role of multiple deployments on the relationship between PTSD and somatization was determined using linear regression. The result showed that there was an association between Somatization and PTSD among Nigerian soldiers in combat operations which is weak and positive. The results also showed that the multiple deployments do not act as a moderating variable between PTSD and Somatization. Also, it was identified that soldiers have an increased PTSD prevalence of 32.2%, and a somatization prevalence of 11.0%. Therefore, military authorities should make it as a priority in all operations across the country to provide readily and timely mental health support for timely management of combat related mental health problems among soldiers.