Post War Trauma Research Paper

We have all seen or read about the political and social upheavals caused by war. Some may have even experienced it first-hand. Throughout history war has had negative psychological implications on those effected. However, there is no greater negative impact of war than the psychological and emotional turmoil that it causes individual soldiers.

One example of Boricevic Marsanic and their colleagues is, “Children of male veterans have a higher chance of attempting suicide” (Boricevic Marsanic et. al.).This quote explains how the disorder affects children who may never have a traumatic experience in their life. The disorder has mental effects on all the people associated, the veteran, their family, friends, everybody. Another example of how PTSD affects children and teens is “The presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in trauma survivors has been linked with family dysfunction and symptoms in their children, including lower self-esteem, higher disorder rates, and symptoms resembling those of the traumatized parent” (Mellor et. al.). Mellor and the other authors of this article in an Australian magazine express how children tend to have more problems internally. The quote also states how the children may even have symptoms the parent with PTSD had, which means that it could cause problems for the child without them even having a traumatic moment in their

Furthermore, the lack of proper rehabilitation or care programs post-war will also reflect the state of the nations. After the catastrophes of war have subsided, the affected areas are left in not only physical ruin, but also mental and emotional ruin. Child soldiers, who have been separated from their families, are stuck between not knowing if their other family members were

Being in war is definitely one of the most life changing events a person will ever have whether it be for the better or for the worst. Soldiers will witness events that are impossible to forget or see back at home in the states. Some soldiers may have even seen one of their best friends that they’ve known for forever get blown up into pieces right next to them, or they might even get one of their own limbs blown off of their own bodies, becoming handicapped for life. As a result of seeing something so intense like that, most soldiers are usually traumatized. In matter of fact, a great amount of soldiers are traumatized from the very beginning of being in war. It’s without a doubt difficult to deal with this but there are some ways where

Refugees are people who crossed borders, fleeing due to problems related to race religion and nationality. While fleeing, refugees unknowingly carry many diseases due to lack of mental help and attention. When coming to a new country, refugees have no self-esteem to get jobs due to the language barrier. Refugees who flee their country and sacrifice everything are confident and strong willed with all the obstacles that come through their journey to start a new life. The long-term effects that a refugee experiences due to forced migration is Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. Forced migration has a negative mental and physical affect on refugees.

When living with PTSD, there are outbreaks of panic and intense thoughts that relate to the event. (Parekh) These come from flashbacks and nightmares that lead to sadness, fear, anger, and a feeling of detachment. “But at night some of us would wake up from nightmares, sweating, screaming, and punching our own heads to drive out the images that continued to torment us even when we were no longer asleep.” (Beah 148) A diagnosis comes from exposure to an event that causes the victim enough trauma to have these types of episodes. These children soldiers are exposed to a large amount of violence within common massacres and village raids, desensitizing them to the act, and not be aware of the acts. Everything these kids go through in war leaves them with many traumatic memories that lead to PTSD, causing harsh flashbacks and nightmares that lead to hurting themselves and

War is hard on anyone involved; however, it is especially hard on the children who are forced to live with it or in close proximity to it. Children typically lack the worldview to process the level of violence that occurs during war. The Nigerian children who were rescued from the refugee camp lived in extremely poor conditions and before arriving there were subjected to serious events that may change them forever. They are likely suffering from some severe psychological effects of war-time violence that need to be addressed in order to break the cycle of violence they may be in, but also to ensure their mental health both now and in the future. There are several aspects of psychological recovery that need to be

According to SIM, various social determinants of health can dictate the presentation and severity of the patient’s illness. The main challenge in delivering effective care of refugee mental health is the complexity and the multi-factorial nature of their suffering. A refugee is identified as someone who was forced to flee his or her country due to traumatic factors such as war, persecution, violence and racism (Moussalli M., 1992). The exposure to these factors instills an overwhelming feeling of fear, submissiveness and vulnerability. As a result, refugees can be at a higher risk of developing debilitating psychological conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety (McKenzie et al., 2010). On the other hand,

Mandatory detention could result in psychological harm; which has clinical and ethical impacts on refugees, especially for children. This research stated that in

“For child soldiers, everyday is a living nightmare” (Chatterjee, 2012). Child soldiers are children under the age of 18 who are used in the military for any source of benefit. Child soldiers worldwide have become a huge issue, leading to many unnecessary deaths as well as lifelong mental trauma. According to “For Child Soldiers, Every Day is a Living Nightmare” 90% of the child soldiers in Liberia show post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as 65% showing depression post-war. Developing these mental illnesses makes the rest of a child’s life a living hell, not to mention their inability to get a job or provide for themselves or their family. Mental illness is probably the best thing you can come out of the war with. An article written in SOS Children’s Villages charity called “Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers” states that over the last 10 years: over 2 million children have been killed, over 1 million children have been orphaned, and over 6 million children have been injured or even disabled, and over 10 million children have struggled with psychological trauma due to war.

Longitudinal research regarding war-related PTSD has been mainly directed on refugees and war veterans in Western countries. Studies on refugee pattern have take in consideration time frameworks of up to 3 years after accomoditation and resettlement, used a diversity of measures to evaluate symptoms, indications and diagnosis, and provided inconsistent and contrdictory findings. Some of studies have reported a gradual reduction in PTSD symptoms over time like Hauff & Vaglum , or Drozdek , also Weine et al. and Mollica et al. . For example, in a refugee camp in Croatia, 77% of Bosnian refugees with PTSD, had the disorder no longer than 3 years later. Other studies showned that PTSD symptoms and

Trauma occurs when a child has experienced an event that threatens or causes harm to her emotional and physical well-being. Events can include war, terrorism, natural disasters, but the most common and harmful to a child’s psychosocial well-being are those such as domestic violence, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, maltreatment, and witnessing a traumatic event. While some children may experience a traumatic event and go on to develop normally, many children have long lasting implications into adulthood.

Trauma is something that can affect anyone at any time depending on the circumstance, no matther whether young or old (Briere, 1997). Trauma has been called “irritable heart” and “shell schock” but after a large amount of soldiers coming home from wars were all experiencing similar symptoms, the American Psychological Association started to identify it as a specific disorder many could potentially have; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There were many causes that were said to have caused PTSD, some that were identified in Psychological Assessment of Adult Posttraumatic States were: disasters, war, rape, sexual assault,large-scale, transportation accidents, emergency worker exposure to trauma, spouse or partner battery, torture, child abuse (1997). Like stated above, PTSD is not only for war victimes, it turns out that it started having different levels that was associated to children as well. This then caused for a creation of various assessments that could be administered depending on the age as well as the form of trauma.

This source has a goal to change the system to make it better for children throughout the world. They researched why children are receiving PTSD and trauma from something that should be protecting them. Child abuse and neglect are major problems in many Western countries. Millions of children were mistreated and put into the child welfare agencies. There are topics throughout explaining the issues, there view on improving screening, and their studies to reduce PTSD and

Just like adults, refugee children may also experience trauma, often through direct experience of, or having witnessed first-hand, the physical or sexual assault of a parent or through intergenerational trauma.