War Trauma and its Aftermath An International Perspective on the Balkan and Gulf Wars

by French, Laurence Armand; Nikolic-novakovic, Lidija

• ISBN13: 9780761858010
• ISBN10: 0761858016
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780761858027
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-16
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

War trauma has long been associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a term coined in 1980 to explain the post-war impact of Vietnam veterans. The Gulf and Balkan wars added new dimensions to the traditional PTSD definition, due largely to the changing dynamics of these wars. With these wars came unprecedented use of reserve and National Guard personnel in U.S. forces along with the largest contingent of female military personnel to date. Rapid deployment, sexual assaults, and suicides surfaced as paramount untreated problems within coalition force. Rapes, torture, suicides, and a high prevalence of untreated civilian victims of the Balkan wars added to the new dimensions of the traumatic stress continuum. Suicide bombers and roadside bombings added to the definition of combat stress, as military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan were forced to be constantly vigilant for these attacks-regardless of whether they served in combat areas.

Author Biography

Laurence Armand French is a sociologist, criminologist, and psychologist. He has worked with traumatic stress clients for year forty years. Previously, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1959 to 1965. Lidija Nikolic-Novakovic speaks both English and Serbian fluently. She lived in Vojvodina with her family during the NATO air attacks from March to Tune of 1999.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Psycho-cultural and Historical Precedents to Classifications of Traumatic Stress
Psycho-cultural Factors	p. 1
Emergence of Standards for Medical and Clinical Classifications	p. 2
Classifying War Trauma	p. 5
Incidence of PTSD Worldwide	p. 9
Continuum of Socio-Cultural Adjustments to War trauma from Sublimation to Suicide
Introduction	p. 13
Irma's Story	p. 17
Lidija's Story	p. 18
Serious Trauma: Rape and Torture	p. 19
Trauma and Suicide	p. 24
The Neurophysiology and Neuropsychology of Trauma Adjustment
Introduction	p. 31
The Basis of Human Neurophysiology	p. 31
The Neuropsychology of Human Behavior	p. 36
Chapter Glossary	p. 45
Dimensions of Gulf War Trauma
Introduction	p. 53
The U.S. National Guard	p. 55
The First Gulf War- Kuwait and Iraq	p. 56
The Second Gulf War - Iraq and Afghanistan	p. 60
Operation Enduring Freedom	p. 60
Operation Iraqi Freedom	p. 61
Dimensions of Combat Stress	p. 62
Invisible Wounds of War	p. 63
Social and Cultural Factors of the U.S. Military	p. 64
The Unintended Consequences of War Trauma	p. 67
Substance Abuse	p. 70
Sex Abuse within the Military	p. 73
War related Violence and Suicide	p. 77
Dimensions of Balkan War Trauma
Introduction: The First and Second Balkan Wars	p. 81
Antecedents to the Third Balkan War	p. 82
The Balkan War of 1991-1995	p. 83
The Balkan War of 1996-2002	p. 87
Review of the Clinical Literature on the War's Aftermath	p. 90
Veterans	p. 90
General War Trauma	p. 94
Refugees	p. 96
Women and Children	p. 98
Reconciliation	p. 103
Map of Yugoslavia	p. 106
Assessment and Treatment of Trauma
Introduction: Reliability and Validity	p. 107
Screening and Assessment	p. 109
Mental Status Exam	p. 109
The DSM-V Proposed PTSD draft revisions	p. 111
The MMPIÆs	p. 113
The Validity Scales	p. 113
The Clinical Scales	p. 114
Political Correctiveness and MMPI revisions	p. 116
Other Tests for Depression and Anxiety	p. 118
The Projectives	p. 118
Brief Assessment tools for Anxiety and Depression	p. 119
Training Protocols in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia	p. 120
The Slavic-language Personality Inventory-360	p. 121
The Problem-Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT)	p. 122
Partner/Relationship Inventory (PRI)	p. 123
Summary	p. 123
Treatment Protocols	p. 124
Psychotherapies	p. 126
Psychopharmacology	p. 128
Combination Therapies	p. 130
Preventive and Aftercare Protocols	p. 130
International Trauma Bibliography	p. 135
Endnotes	p. 179
Index	p. 191
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