Neuropsychological performance, psychiatric symptoms, and everyday cognitive failures in Bosnian ex-servicemen with posttraumatic stress disorder

A previous study of ours (Koso & Hansen, 2006) indicated remarkably large decrements in neuropsychological functioning in Bosnian war veterans with posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). The present study assessed attention (Sustained Attention to Response Task), executive function (Trail Making Test), and memory (Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test) in an additional group of veterans with (n = 45) or without (n = 34) PTSD. Replicating our prior study, sizeable performance decrements were observed. Furthermore, multivariate analyses revealed that (a) good verbal IQ partly buffered against the harmful effect of PTSD on more fluid cognitive functions, (b) cognitive impairment was related to PTSD symptom severity (Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale scores) and to (c) difficulties in everyday cognitive functioning (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire scores).