The Psychological Effects Of War And Violence On Children

The outgrowth of a conference planned as a response to the need for researchers and clinicians to develop integrated plans for addressing the psychological trauma of children exposed to violence, this volume's goals are: * to summarize research on the subject with particular emphasis on the Gulf War; * to use this information to formulate an outline of what current knowledge suggests are reasonable approaches to public mental health intervention; and * to develop an agenda for future research necessary for improving clinical efforts in varying international conflicts. A significant collection of diverse perspectives attending to a diversity of cultural and political contexts, the contributors offer many conclusions about important dimensions for analyzing the effects of violence on children. Suggesting informed approaches to public mental health efforts which can be implemented, the work presented here directs attention to the need for interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers and clinicians to better understand the effects of exposure to violence on the psychological well being of children and the optimal modes of remediation on individual, family, and community levels.

The post-war world has become characterized by fierce new assertions of nationalism and sovereignty. Many regions - such as Bosnia, Somalia and Northern Ireland - are threatened by violent ethnic, religious and cultural strife. Almost daily on our television screens we see the faces of frightened children caught up in war, yet research into the effects of war on children is patchy and not well known. Children and Political Violence provides a critical evaluation of attempts to answer questions about the impact of political violence on such topics as children's aggression, moral development, and interpersonal relations. Much of the material is concerned with children who witness, experience or participate in violent acts, and with the children's stress and coping in violent circumstances. Other chapters deal with the effects on the social fabric of children's lives of the loss of families, destruction of social networks, homelessness, and the challenge of ensuring that the next generation grows up to reject violence as a way of settling political disputes. Written in a highly accessible style with many real-life examples, Children and Political Violence will be of broad interest to students, researchers and practitioners in child psychology and psychiatry, education, conflict studies and peace studies.

The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.

Political violence has disrupted the lives of millions of children around the world. Responding to the gravity and scale of this phenomenon, this volume is intended to stimulate discussion and research on children's exposure to political violence and its psycho-social effects. It brings together for the first time in a single volume three areas of scientific activity in different disciplines: research on effects, programs for intervention, and laws and policy for prevention of political violence to children. Section I presents reviews of research on children exposed to political violence, including child soldiers and refugee children, as well as an examination of methodology and ethics. Section II contains research on interventions with children exposed to political violence, including individual therapy and school, family, and community interventions. Section III covers legal and social issues in deterring the recruitment of children to violent causes and protecting children in armed conflict. Pulling together the work of leading scholars and practitioners in the social sciences and international law, this volume argues that the prevention of political violence to children is possible, and it provides a crucial basis for ideas for prevention.

This book provides an overview of theoretical, empirical, and clinical conceptualizations of mental health following exposure to human rights violations (HRV). There are currently hundreds of millions of individuals affected by war and conflict across the globe, and over 68 million people who are forcibly displaced. The field of refugee and post-conflict mental health is growing exponentially, as researchers investigate the factors that impact on psychological disorders in these populations, and design and evaluate new treatments to reduce psychological distress. This volume will be a substantial contribution to the literature on mental health in refugee and post-conflict populations, as it details the state of the evidence regarding the mental health of war survivors living in areas of former conflict as well as refugees and asylum-seekers.

The Holocaust, civil war in Bosnia, drug wars in the cities, random violence in schools, streets, and homes--such events and their aftermath pose special problems for mental health professionals, educators, and others who must help children make sense of acts that endanger them physically and psychically. In this book, edited by Drs. Roberta J. Apfel and Bennett Simon, mental health professionals share their knowledge, experiences, and hopefulness in working with children exposed to war and violence. The result is a moving history of young lives affected by war, persecution, and communal violence, and an invaluable resource for anyone working with children subjected to such traumas. The contributors to this book--who include psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, all with direct experience working with children who are victims of war and violence--address the ethics involved in working with children in war zones, children's development under circumstances of war or violence, post-traumatic stress disorder and other stress reactions, refugee children, "survivor guilt," interventions and treatments, and the emotional health of the caretakers. The book includes case studies on children of war in Kuwait, on a program involving children of Holocaust survivors and children of Nazi perpetrators, and on the Child Development-Community Policing Program in New Haven.

More than 1 billion children - half of all children in the world - are exposed to violence every year, in many forms and places, online and off. Whether a target or a witness, a child's exposure to violence has a severe impact on mental health. Such experiences with violence are often traumatic, evoking toxic responses to stress that cause both immediate and longterm physiological and psychological damage, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, anxiety, substance use disorders, sleep and eating disorders, and suicide. As the international community begins a Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, mental health must be imperative to measures employed to prevent and respond to violence against children and fulfill the promises of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In support of that process, this publication provides an overview of international evidence on the ways in which violence harms children's mental health, considering both diverse settings and forms of violence, developmental differences in the aftermath, and the most significant risk and protective factors. Highlighting the urgent need for action alongside continued gaps in knowledge of worthwhile solutions, the report also offers existing, effective approaches that should be pursued.