O IMPACTO DO TRAUMA DA VIDA NA SAÚDE MENTAL E NO COMPORTAMENTO SUICIDA: UM ESTUDO EM PAÍSES DE LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA
Authors: SİLVA Mariana , PEREİRA Henrique , BEATRİZ Colleen 
Published: October 2022

Introduction: The word “trauma” is commonly used to refer to a stressful event, however, each person’s individual adaptability and coping capacity is what defines whether an event is traumatic for them. The psychological trauma resulting from a traumatic event compromise both the mental and physical health of the traumatized individual. Several studies report the incidence of traumatic experiences in community and clinical samples and in specific populations. Suicide is still a major global public health concern and globally more than 700,000 people die from suicide every year. There is substantial research regarding the impact that exposure to a traumatic event has on mental health and suicidal behavior in various study populations, but this area remains unexplored in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLC). Objective: This study aims to 1) describe the traumatic experiences, mental health levels and suicidal behavior, comparing differences between country of residence; 2) assess correlations between traumatic experiences and mental health and suicidal behavior; and 3) assess the impact of exposure to a traumatic event on mental health and suicidal behavior. Methods: The participants of this study are 1006 individuals from Portugal, Brazil, and African Countries with Portuguese as an Official Language (ACPOP). The measurement instruments included a sociodemographic questionnaire, Brief Symptoms Inventory-18 (BSI-18), Brief Trauma Questionnaire (BTQ), and the Portuguese version of Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R). Results: The results indicate that the rates of anxious, depressive, and somatic symptomatology are within the average range for a community population in Portugal. The ACPOP participants reported greater impact of war, while Portuguese participants reported greater impact of disasters and Brazilian participants reported greater impact of psychological and sexual abuse, assault, and death of a family member. Brazilian participants showed the worst levels of mental health and greater suicidal thoughts, but Portuguese participants showed greater probability of committing suicide. Although strong correlations were found between traumatic experiences and mental health levels and suicidal behavior, only physical and sexual abuse were positively correlated with all BSI-18 and SBQ-R subscales. A linear regression analysis revealed that traumatic experiences explain 23.4% of the variance in mental health levels and 11.6% of the variance in suicide probability. Conclusion: Mental health is of paramount importance for quality of life. Therefore, it is important to understand the risk factors for poor mental health outcomes including suicide risk, in this case exposure to traumatic events, for a direct and effective intervention and prevention. Our results elucidate and reinforce the impact of traumatic experiences on mental health and its role as a predictor of suicide attempts, contributing to a better understanding about these themes to assist future preventive or remedial intervention. Governments of Portuguese Language Countries should include strategies aimed at minimizing the impact of traumatic experiences when implementing mental health policies and prevention campaigns.