Page 139 - GHES-3-2

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability
The impact of PTSD on memory and cognition

4. Discussion symptoms. Overall, the memory test results obtained by
control group A were superior to the tallies attained by
The results presented in Table 7 elucidate that all three both groups of adolescent earthquake victims, B and C.
groups (A, B, and C) performed better at the memory The results of this study endorse the findings reported by
test after the manual was applied. The results of control preceding studies: groups B and C comprising adolescent
group A did not register any significant variations between earthquake victims evinced PTSD rates of 66.66%
the first and second PTSD tests. However, both groups and 67.77%, respectively. These rates align with the
of earthquake victims (B and C) reported fewer PTSD approximately 70% occurrence rate found in children who

experienced the Armenian earthquake in 1988 (Goenjian
et al., 2003; Armenian et al., 2000). This study’s complex
design allowed the prospect of inspecting adolescent
responses to the traumatic earthquake event. The age range
of this study’s participants was fixed between 13 and 15;
therefore, it was difficult to determine whether age played a
role in the PTSD findings. However, 47 earthquake victims
from all age ranges were casually interviewed before the
study was initiated. It was noted that the younger the
victim, the more the symptoms of PTSD were present.
The results of these individuals were compared to those
of 25 individuals who were not earthquake victims.
Younger individuals who did not suffer the effects of the
earthquake displayed a more stable psychological state
Figure 3. PTSD score changes in pre-intervention and post-intervention than earthquake victims (Green, 1991). This study’s male–
groups. female ratio was unequal because 66.6% of the participants
Note: Group A is control, groups B and C are earthquake survivors. were male and 33.3% were female. However, the results
obtained in the memory tests by female respondents in all
three groups were consistently higher than the scores of
male participants. Perhaps, this outcome can be explained
by the conservative Pakistani culture, in which girls in
rural areas are generally encouraged to stay at home while
boys are considered providers. Therefore, the trend that
girls try twice as hard has developed because girls feel they
must prove themselves equal to their male counterparts.
Notably, all adolescents in the study except for the
members of the control group A were directly exposed to
the earthquake. Of the participants designated to groups B
and C, 80% claimed that they had repeated distressing
memories and/or dreams. However, this proportion
lowered to 70% after the Writing for Recovery Manual and
Memory II were applied.
Figure 4. Memory test results in pre-intervention and post-intervention
groups. During the writing manual exercises, 60% of the
Note: Group A is control, groups B and C are earthquake survivors. participants designated to groups B and C claimed to

Table 7. Consolidated results
Group PTSD PTSD Memory Test Memory Test
pre‑intervention post‑intervention pre‑intervention post‑intervention
(PTSD I) (PTSD II) (Memory I) (Memory II)
Control Group A 78 71 851 1050
Earthquake survivors Group B 240 164 472 746
Earthquake survivors Group C 244 159 453 837

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 131 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.5121