Psychological Effects Of War On Children

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.

War is a traumatizing experience for anyone, but especially for children. A Long Way Gone demonstrates how a child’s innocence can be taken away

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

Over the past few decades, the war changed everyone’s perspective. According to NCBI, 61% civilians suffer from psychological disorders caused by wars. Specifically, two books, Night and Persepolis, talks about the author experiences during the war and their struggles. Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, documents his childhood when he was maltreated by the Nazis, and Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, share her experiences during the Iraq-Iran war of how it change her. War changes childhood because of near-death experiences, family departure, and witness horrific acts of violence.

Families were affected by the trauma and exposure of the wars, causing mental illnesses such as depression. Young children had been exposed to the trauma of the wars. A great deal of pressure was put on the older children because they had to take care of the household and their younger siblings. Injuries and mental health left soldiers unemployed, which led to financial difficulty to provide for the children, this forced families to change their standard of living in some cases (“Impact on soldiers and their families”). Nonetheless, children were also able to help during the wars through services such as knitting sweaters and making bandages for soldiers overseas. Sufficiently the topic of the wars was also beginning to appear in curricular in early 1914. Patriotic teachers encouraged students to help convince adult males or older brothers to enlist in the wars. Countless children remember the wars as an economic hardship, grinding tragedy and unbearable grief (“The Children’s War”).

Even though soldiers are able to distract themselves from the horrors that they witness on the front, war psychologically damages them and creates the “lost generation”. The young men find it increasingly difficult to think and act with the mindset of a civilian. In war, the men only experience despair, death, and fear, so their mind is enveloped by negative thoughts that

War causes death, poverty, diseases, destruction, and many more devastating and unavoidable consequences. The government drafted men into military service, giving them no choice but to separate them from their daily lives, friends, and families. Soldiers fight in wars while putting their lives on the line and are only rewarded with physical or psychological injuries. Countries wage war against one another in order to resolve disputes and disagreements between them. Individuals, such as nurses, soldiers, and civilians undergo traumatic events when they are caught in the middle of a war. Although some may argue that war does not impact the self the most, based on the informational text, “War Escalates” by Paul Boye, the short story, “Where

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

​War takes a toll on those who fight, or are affected by it, this is undeniable. Over the course of the 20th Century, within the U.S. Military and Psychiatric Community the way that this effect is identified and treated has changed many times based on the conflict and the mindset of the American public. The purpose of this report is to discuss the history of the mental effect of the trauma created by US involvement in wars within the 20th Century and the steps that were taken in those eras to predict, prepare and treat for those effects.

Experiencing war at such a tender age can affect one's mine in the long term, resulting in them to perceive the world with anger affecting ones desire of happiness due to experiencing a loss of innocence.

Timothy Findley’s The Wars portrays the effects of war on soldiers in battle, as well as the members of family and friends that suffer from loss and insanity. As each character over the progression of the story is exposed to change, the character’s ability to adapt has a significant correlation with their survival, those that can quickly adapt to survive can manage to get by. Soldiers must be able to suppress the extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot overcome these challenges do not survive in war. Murder is quickly pushed out of a soldiers mind, killing others in effort to protect their own life or the life of others around them. Findley demonstrates how war can negatively alter a person’s behaviour. This is seen through

War is replete with death and dismemberment; but victimization is when the horrors of war are inflicted upon the innocent. The victims of war feel a sense of terror when the harsh realities completely alter their way of life. The people that are indiscriminately thrust into war due to unjust circumstances are considered victims. In the article, "Children - the ultimate victims of war" Graca Machel states that, "War violates every right of a child - the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health, the right to the development of the personality and the right to be nurtured and protected" (Machel 1). In the setting of war, children are frequently the ones that are abused the most. Both war memoir’s The Bite

Some people think going to war is fun, getting to have guns and drive tanks. But logical kids know war isn’t all that exciting. You can get killed, your country can get bombed and you have to worry about new things like rationing money and food. In the historical fiction novel My Brother Sam Is Dead by the Collier brothers, we learn that war can divide and destroy individuals, families and communities.

Most people can say that they have been affected by war in some way; this chapter shows a few examples of negative effects of war on one girl. This chapter, “Style” by Tim O’Brien is about war. More specifically it is about an American war against Vietnam. In this chapter the Americans actually burned down a village and left a little girl homeless and without a family. War can have a giant negative impact on the lives of innocent people.

The infamous collection of lasting mental effects of warfare has been classified as a disorder known by many names: shell shock, Soldier’s Heart, and combat fatigue. Today, this disorder is classified as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, PTSD symptoms include persistent nightmares, constant avoidance of trauma-associated stimuli, and emotional numbing that was not present before trauma. PTSD is unlike other mental disorders because it is linked to a specific traumatic event, and it is often associated with combat (Institute 1). World War I was the catalyst for interest and research on war neuroses; at the time,