Trauma

Posttraumatic Resilience in Former Ugandan Child Soldiers

Citation:

Klasen, Fionna, Judith Daniels, Gabriele Oettingen, Manuela Post, Catrin Hoyer, and Hubertus Adam. 2010. “Posttraumatic Resilience in Former Ugandan Child Soldiers.” Child Development 81 (4): 1096–1113.

Authors: Fionna Klasen, Judith Daniels, Gabriele Oettingen, Manuela Post, Catrin Hoyer, Hubertus Adam

Abstract:

The present research examines posttraumatic resilience in extremely exposed children and adolescents based on interviews with 330 former Ugandan child soldiers (age = 11-17, female = 48.5%). Despite severe trauma exposure, 27.6% showed posttraumatic resilience as indicated by the absence of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and clinically significant behavioral and emotional problems. Among these former child soldiers, posttraumatic resilience was associated with lower exposure to domestic violence, lower guilt cognitions, less motivation to seek revenge, better socioeconomic situation in the family, and more perceived spiritual support. Among the youth with significant psychopathology, many of them had symptoms extending beyond the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, in keeping with the emerging concept of developmental trauma disorder. Implications for future research, intervention, and policy are discussed.

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Girls, Boys, Health, PTSD, Trauma Regions: Africa, East Africa

Year: 2010

Women, War, and Violence: Surviving the Experience

Citation:

Usta, Jinan, Jo Ann M. Farver, and Lama Zein. 2008. “Women, War, and Violence: Surviving the Experience.” Journal of Women’s Health 17 (5): 793-804.

Authors: Jinan Usta, Jo Ann M. Farver, Lama Zein

Abstract:

OBJECTIVES: To investigate how Lebanese women were affected by the July 2006 conflict that erupted between the Hezbollah and the State of Israel, with a specific focus on their personal violence exposure and how they coped with these circumstances.

METHODS: Participants were 310 women at Ministry of Social Affairs Centers (MOSA) located in six geographic areas with varying exposure to the conflict. A questionnaire was administered in interview format to collect information about the participants' demographic characteristics, experiences of the conflict, perceived psychological functioning, exposure to violence associated with the conflict, exposure to domestic violence during and after the conflict, and their coping strategies.

RESULTS: Of the women, 89% had to leave their homes during the conflict because of fear or worry about safety. Of the 310 participants, 39% reported at least one encounter with violence perpetrated by soldiers, 27% reported at least one incident of domestic abuse during the conflict, and 13% reported at least one incident after the conflict perpetrated by their husbands or other family members. Women's self-reported negative mental health scores were positively correlated with the violence associated with the conflict and with domestic violence during and after the conflict. Women who reported that they did not know how to cope or had just tried to forget about their experiences reported more frequent domestic violence exposure during the conflict and had higher negative mental health outcomes associated with the conflict than did those who reported using active strategies.

CONCLUSIONS: During armed conflict, domestic violence is also likely to increase. Therefore, when investigating the psychological impact of war on women, both forms of violence exposure should be considered. The use of active coping strategies may help in reducing psychological distress.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Domestic Violence, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, Violence

Year: 2008

Narrating Trauma and Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Karachi

Citation:

Chaudhry, Lubna Nazir, and Corrine Bertram. 2009. “Narrating Trauma and Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Karachi: Feminist Liberation Psychology and the Contours of Agency in the Margins.” Feminism & Psychology 19 (3): 298-312.

Authors: Lubna Nazir Chaudhry, Corrine Bertram

Abstract:

The article examines poor women's responses to direct and structural violence in Karachi, Pakistan, by combining goals and themes from liberation psychology with transnational feminism. We draw on interviews with Mohajir women survivors to analyse constructions of psychosocial trauma and attempts to rebuild post-conflict life-worlds, in a bid to understand the scope and contours of their agency within their ‘limit situations’. Although agency, resistance, and critical consciousness remain constrained by multi-layered power relations, women's narratives reflect crucial insights about social structures impacting their lives, and point to the need for interventions that integrate trauma alleviation and opportunities for local, national, and transnational grassroots activism, advocacy and policy initiatives.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Health, Trauma, Humanitarian Assistance, Context-Appropriate Response to Trauma, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Pakistan

Year: 2009

The Wars We Inherit: Military Life, Gender Violence, and Memory

Citation:

Amy, Lori E. 2010. The Wars We Inherit: Military Life, Gender Violence, and Memory. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Author: Lori E. Amy

Abstract:

By combining personal memoir and critical analysis, the author links the violence we live in our homes to the violence that structures our larger culture. This book brings insights from memory and trauma studies to the story of violence in the author's own family. She concerns herself with the violence associated with the military, and how this institution of public, cultural violence, with its hypermasculinity pervades society with physical, verbal, emotional and sexual aggression. She uses her war-veteran father to represent the chaotic and dehumanizing impact of war to show how violence is experienced and remembered. She provides examples that support the relationship between military structures and domestic violence, or how the sexual violence that permeates her family prompts debates about the nature of trauma and memory. In addition, she employs feminist psychoanalytic theory, cultural and trauma studies, and narrative theory, to explain how torture in Abu Ghraib is on a direct continuum with the ordinary violence inherent in our current systems of gender and nation. Here contention here is that "if we can begin, in our own lives, to transform the destructive ways that we have been shaped by violence, then we might begin to transform the cultural conditions that breed violence." (Publisher description)

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Health, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Violence

Year: 2010

Child Sexual Abuse in Lebanon during War and Peace

Citation:

Usta, Jinan, Jo Ann M. Farver, and Lama Zein. 2010. “Child Sexual Abuse in Lebanon during War and Peace.” Child: Care, Health and Development 36 (3): 361–68. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2010.01082.x.

Authors: Jinan Usta, Jo Ann M. Farver, Lama Zein

Abstract:

Purpose Child sexual abuse (CSA) is rarely addressed in the Arab world. This study examined the prevalence, risk factors and consequences associated with CSA in Lebanese children before, during and after the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli war.
 
Method A total of 1028 Lebanese children (556 boys; 472 girls) were administered an interview questionnaire that included the International Child Abuse Screening Tool, the Trauma Symptom Checklist and the Family Functioning in Adolescence Questionnaire.
 
Results In total, 249 (24%) children reported at least one incident of CSA; 110 (11%) occurred before the war, 90 (8%) took place in the 1-year period after the war to the time of the data collection and 49 (5%) occurred during the 33-day war. There were no gender differences in CSA reports before or after the war, but boys reported more incidents during the war than did girls. Girls who reported CSA had higher trauma-related symptoms for sleep disturbance, somatization, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and anxiety than did boys. There were geographic differences in the reports of abuse that may be associated with poverty and living standards. Logistic regression analyses correctly classified 89.9% of the cases and indicated that children’s age, family size, fathers’ education level and family functioning significantly predicted CSA during the period following the war.
 
Conclusions The prevalence of CSA in the current study is within the reported international range. Given the increase in the incidents of CSA during the war and the significant findings for family-related risk factors, there is an urgent need to provide multi-component culturally appropriate interventions that target the child and the family system in times of peace and conflict.

Keywords: child sexual abuse, family functioning, Lebanon, trauma symptoms, war

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Girls, Boys, Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 2010

Male-Perpetrated Violence Among Vietnam Veteran Couples: Relationships With Veteran’s Early Life Characteristics, Trauma History, and PTSD Symptomatology

Citation:

Orcutt, Holly K., Lynda A. King, and Daniel W. King. 2003. “Male-Perpetrated Violence Among Vietnam Veteran Couples: Relationships With Veteran’s Early Life Characteristics, Trauma History, and PTSD Symptomatology.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 16 (4): 381–90. doi:10.1023/A:1024470103325.

Authors: Holly K. Orcutt , Lynda A. King, Daniel W. King

Abstract:

Using structural equation modeling, we examined the impact of early-life stressors, war-zone stressors, and PTSD symptom severity on partner's reports of recent male-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) among 376 Vietnam veteran couples. Results indicated that several variables demonstrated direct relationships with IPV, including relationship quality with mother, war-zone stressor variables, and PTSD symptom severity. Importantly, retrospective reports of a stressful early family life, childhood antisocial behavior, and war-zone stressors were indirectly associated with IPV via PTSD. One of our 2 war-zone stressor variables, perceived threat, had both direct and indirect (through PTSD) relationships with IPV. Experiencing PTSD symptoms as a result of previous trauma appears to increase an individual's risk for perpetrating IPV. Implications for research and treatment are discussed.

Topics: Combatants, Domestic Violence, Gender, Health, PTSD, Trauma Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Vietnam

Year: 2003

Mental Health Consequences in Men Exposed to Sexual Abuse During the War in Croatia and Bosnia

Citation:

Loncar, Mladen, Neven Henigsberg, and Pero Hrabac. 2010. “Mental Health Consequences in Men Exposed to Sexual Abuse During the War in Croatia and Bosnia.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 25 (2): 191–203.

Authors: Mladen Loncar, Neven Henigsberg, Pero Hrabac

Abstract:

In the research project on sexual abuse of men during the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, detailed information from 60 victims of such crimes was gathered. The aim of the research was to define key attributes of sexual abuse of men in war as well as consequences it had on the victims. A method of structured interview was used. Also, the statement of each victim was recorded. Victims were exposed to physical torture of their genitals, psycho-sexual torture and physical abuse. The most common symptoms of traumatic reactions were sleep disturbances, concentration difficulties, nightmares and flashbacks, feelings of hopelessness, and different physical stress symptoms such as constant headaches, profuse sweating, and tachycardia. In addition to rape and different methods of sexual abuse, most of the victims were heavily beaten. The conclusion is made that the number of sexually abused men during the war must have been much higher than reported.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Men, Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, Sexual Violence, SV against Men, Torture, Sexual Torture Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia

Year: 2010

Sexual Torture of Political Prisoners: An Overview

Citation:

Agger, Inger. 1989. “Sexual Torture of Political Prisoners: An Overview.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 2 (3): 305-318.

Author: Inger Agger

Abstract:

Not much is known about the repressive use of sexuality against political prisoners. It is important to gain a better understanding of the trauma involved in sexual torture for treatment purposes. On the basis of clinical experience with refugees from the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America, and the collection of mainly unpublished material on the subject, a theory of the psychodynamics of sexual torture is proposed. It is claimed that this method of torture is especially traumatic, as it is characterized by a confusing and complex ambiguity containing both libidinal and aggressive components, against which the victim has difficulty maintaining a psychological defense. Hence, his or her core identity processes are threatened. Aspects of transcultural treatment are discussed, and it is stressed that there must be a reframing of the trauma story so as not to repeat the psychological pain of the torture and aggravate symptoms. The Testimony-Method is introduced as an important tool for reframing. If the refugee presents sexual symptoms, sexological treatment interventions are recommended.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Health, Trauma, Sexuality, Torture, Sexual Torture

Year: 1989

Women, Migration, and Conflict: Breaking a Deadly Cycle

Citation:

Martin, Susan Forbes, and John Tirman, eds. 2009. Women, Migration, and Conflict: Breaking a Deadly Cycle. New York: Springer.

Authors: John Tirman, Susan Forbes Martin

Annotation:

Summary: 
An estimated 35 million people worldwide are displaced by conflict, and most of them are women and children. During their time away from their homes and communities, these women and their children are subjected to a horrifying array of misfortune, including privations of every kind, sexual assaults, disease, imprisonment, unwanted pregnancies, severe psychological trauma, and, upon return or resettlement, social disapproval and isolation.
 
Written by the world’s leading scholars and practitioners, this unique collection brings these problems - and potential solutions - into sharp focus. Based on extensive field research and a broad knowledge of other studies of the challenges facing women who are forced from their homes and homelands by conflict, this book offers in-depth understanding and problem-solving ideas. Derived from a project to advise U.N. agencies, it speaks to a broad array of students, scholars, NGOs, policymakers, government officials, and international organizations. (Summary from Springer) 
 

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Health, Trauma, Households, International Organizations, NGOs, Sexual Violence

Year: 2009

Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in War and Its Aftermath: Realities, Responses, and Required Resources

Citation:

Ward, Jeanne, and Mendy Marsh. 2006. “Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in War and Its Aftermath: Realities, Responses, and Required Resources.” Paper presented at the Symposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and BeyondBrussels, June 21-23.

Authors: Jeanne Ward, Mendy Marsh

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, International Organizations, Justice, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Security Sector Reform, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women

Year: 2006

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