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There is little question anymore about the reality of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) as a disorder. For some, this disorder progressively worsens over time and appears to affect nearly all aspects of life, including work, interpersonal relationships, physical health, and view of self. The severity of PTSD may lead to repeated hospitalizations over the years and may require ongoing outpatient treatment. Moreover, a resurfacing of previously controlled symptoms may appear with old age, as former victims become physically incapacitated, suffer losses, and lose social support systems. So far as, no comprehensive effort has been made to determine the joint effects of a range of factors (e.g. combat exposure, locus of control and social support) on post-traumatic stress and somatic symptoms in a single study comprising of non-clinical samples of Iranian War veterans/combatants who had war exposure during Iran-Iraq conflict. The results of the current study demonstrate that combat stress has potential long-lasting effects that leave soldiers emotionally vulnerable, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder. The study also reveals the effect of combat stress on somatic complaints. The result regarding social support were in accordance with earlier findings about the positive effects of social support on psychological adjustment. The findings also revealed the importance of locus of control in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. Participants with external locus of control, scored higher on PTSD and somatic complaints than participants with internal locus of control, interestingly, the hypotheses of an interaction between social support and locus of control were not confirmed. Number of methodological and conceptual problems imposed certain limitations on these conclusions.

Keywords: Stress, Combat Exposure, Locus of Control, Social support

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