Trauma

Citation:

Dickson-Gómez, Julia. 2002. “Growing up in Guerrilla Camps: The Long-Term Impact of Being a Child Soldier in El Salvador’s Civil War.” Ethos 30 (4): 327–56.

Author: Julia Dickson-Gómez

Abstract:

Many recent wars are characterized by high levels of civilian casualties, a large proportion of whom are women and children. Furthermore, an estimated 300,000 children are actively participating in 36 ongoing or recently ended conflicts around the world. However, there is a dearth of reseearch on the long-term effects of war trauma experienced in childhood or children's active participation in armed conflicts. This article explores the long-term effectives of children's active participation in the war in El Salvador by examining four young adults who fought with the guerrilla army as children and adolescents. Comparing these four cases with member of the community who joined and fought with the guerrilla as adults, it will be argued that traumatic experiences were even more devestating when they occurred in early childhood as they destroyed the ability to establish basic trust in competent and nurturing caretakers. Becoming a soldier created additional conflicts as these adolescent soldiers behaved in ways they felt were morally incorrect. Adolescent soldiers were also not given the opportunity to develop autonomy and learn adult peace-time roles. Both the psychological trauma suffered as children as well as continued economic scarcity and violence contribute to these campesinos' difficulties in creating meaningful lives as adults.

Topics: Age, Youth, Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Girls, Boys, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 2002

Citation:

Scheffler, Sabine, and Agnes Müchele. 1999. “War, Life Crisis and Trauma: Assessing the Impact of a Woman-Centered Training Program in Bosnia.” Women & Therapy 22 (1): 121-38.

Authors: Sabine Scheffler, Agnes Müchele

Abstract:

This article presents a woman-centered approach to healing that is necessitated by trauma inflicted by armed conflict. The authors present a historical context within which they depict many of the daily consequences that citizens experienced. A training program was developed during a trip to Bosnia in which sixteen women, among whom were social workers, psychologists, physicians, teachers and one Islamic theologian, participated. This program was comprised of five training modules: introduction to basic concepts and issues, the social psychology of war, the counseling process and techniques, social work in a wartime environment, and termination.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, Health, Trauma Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 1999

Citation:

Kimerling, Rachel, Amy E. Street, Kristian Gima, and Mark W. Smith. 2008. “Evaluation of Universal Screening for Military-Related Sexual Trauma.” Psychiatric Services 59 (6): 635–40.

Authors: Rachel Kimerling, Amy E. Street, Kristian Gima, Mark W. Smith

Abstract:

 In response to growing concerns about sexual violence as an underrecognized traumatic consequence of military service, Veterans Health Administration policy requires universal screening for sexual trauma sustained during military service. This prospective study, the first to evaluate national efforts to screen for military sexual trauma, investigated whether sexual trauma screening is associated with increased utilization of mental health services. This study examined data for all male (N=540,381) and female (N=33,259) veterans who had valid responses to screens for military sexual trauma in 2005. The use of mental health services during the three months after screening was examined for persons who screened positive for military sexual trauma and for those who screened negative. Findings were stratified by use of mental health services in the six months before the screening. Compared with negative screens, positive screens were associated with significantly increased rates of postscreen mental health treatment. A more than twofold increase was observed for patients without previous use of mental health treatment (women: relative risk [RR]=2.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 2.38-2.66; men: RR=2.47, 95% CI=2.34-2.61). In this group, the number of positive screens needed for one additional patient to access treatment was 5.5 for women and 7.2 for men.  Our findings suggest that detection via screening is associated with increased rates of mental health treatment. An effective screening program that promotes detection of sexual trauma and access to mental health care can help to reduce the burden of psychiatric illness for those who have experienced military sexual trauma.

Topics: Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2008

Citation:

Igreja, Victor, Béatrice Dias-Lambranca, and Annemiek Richters. 2008. “Gamba Spirits, Gender Relations and Healing in Post-Civil War Gorongosa, Mozambique.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 14 (2): 353-71.

Authors: Victor Igreja, Béatrice Dias-Lambranca, Annemiek Richters

Abstract:

This article describes the ways in which in post-civil war Gorongosa (Central Mozambique), women (and occasionally men) with personal and/or family experiences of extreme suffering are the focalpoint of possession by male, war-related spirits named gamba. However, gamba spirits also create post-war healing in which memory work and gender politics play an essential role. This type ofpost-war healing is demonstrated through a secret, contractual ceremony in which a male living suitor demands permission from a gamba spirit, lodged in the body of a young woman (his deemed wife), to marry that woman. An account of the ceremony is preceded by a description of the conditions that gave rise to the emergence of gamba spirits in central Mozambique, and is followed by an analysis of the meaning of the voice of the spirit and its impact on the relation between the living husband and wife and, more generally, on Gorongosa post-war society. We argue that the performance of gamba spirits contributes to a certain form of moral renewal. In the process, we locate relationships between spirits and hosts within wider systems of meaning in which they arecreated and reproduced, and we reinforce approaches to possession that see it as constituted by ‘apractice and politics of voice’ (Lambek).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Gender, Women, Men, Health, Trauma, Households, Humanitarian Assistance, Context-Appropriate Response to Trauma, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Mozambique

Year: 2008

Citation:

Hyman, Batya. 2000. “The Economic Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse for Adult Lesbian Women.” Journal of Marriage and Family 62 (1): 199–211.

Author: Batya Hyman

Abstract:

This study is designed to extend the investigation of the long-term consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) into the workplace and to consider the effects on the economic welfare of 1,925 lesbian women from the National Lesbian Health Care Survey. It seeks to develop a two-stage, least-squares model that considers simultaneously the effects of child sexual abuse on four spheres of a woman's life--her physical health, mental health, educational attainment, and economic welfare; and to investigate the differential impacts of diverse forms of child sexual abuse on the adult woman's functioning. The CSA survivors experienced adverse health and mental health consequences. The type of CSA experienced was also a significant predictor of a woman's educational attainment and annual earnings.

Topics: Economies, Women, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, LGBTQ, Livelihoods, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Year: 2000

Citation:

Leslie, Helen. 2001. "Healing the Psychological Wounds of Gender-Related Violence in Latin America: A Model for Gender-Sensitive Work in Post-Conflict Contexts." Gender & Development 9 (3): 50-9.

Author: Helen Leslie

Abstract:

This article presents a model of healing which conceptualises and addresses the psychological effects on women of gender-related violence in the post-conflict context. The model is drawn from the experience of an El Salvadorean NGO, Las Dignas, and from key insights from gender and development literature.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Humanitarian Assistance, Context-Appropriate Response to Trauma, NGOs, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Year: 2001

Citation:

Husic, Sabiha. 2008. “Children and Post-Conflict Trauma.” Refugee Survey Quarterly 27 (4): 164–68.

Author: Sabiha Husic

Abstract:

Medica Zenica is a womens non-governmental organization, staffed by professionals, that offers psychosocial and medical support to women and children who are victims of war and post-war related violence, including war rapes, domestic violence, and trafficking in human beings. Brief descriptions of individual experiences of women and girls during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina provide an insight into the nature of the trauma, the needs of victims and Medica Zenicas assistance. The organization has also actively engaged in furthering public awareness, advocating government support, and appropriate legislative measures.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, NGOs, Sexual Violence, Rape, Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: Europe, Balkans Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2008

Citation:

Skjelsbaek, Inger. 2006. “Victim and Survivor: Narrated Social Identities of Women Who Experienced Rape During the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Feminism & Psychology 16 (4): 373-403. doi:10.1177/0959353506068746.

Author: Inger Skjelsbaek

Abstract:

This article presents a narrative analysis of interviews with five women who were victims of rape during the Bosnian war. By giving a voice to women who have experienced such an ordeal and letting them position their experiences, we gain insight into the diverse impacts that war rapes have on different victims, their families and relationships. The narrative analysis makes it possible to analyze the war-rape experiences as unique and different from other war-trauma experiences, while simultaneously recognizing the totality in which the war rapes occurred.

Keywords: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gender, narrative analysis, sexual violence

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, Trauma, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2006

Citation:

Beswick, Stephanie. 2006. “‘If You Leave Your Country You Have No Life!’ Rape, Suicide, and Violence: The Voices of Ethiopian, Somali, and Sudanese Female Refugees in Kenyan Refugee Camps.” Northeast African Studies 8 (3): 69–98.

Author: Stephanie Beswick

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Security, Human Security, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan

Year: 2006

Citation:

Gingerich, Tara, and Jennifer Leaning. 2004. The Use of Rape as a Weapon of War in the Conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Boston: Harvard School of Public Health.

Authors: Tara Gingerich, Jennifer Leaning

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Reproductive Health, Trauma, Humanitarian Assistance, Context-Appropriate Response to Trauma, International Law, Sexual Violence, Rape, Weapons /Arms Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2004