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Survivors of War Trauma, Mass Violence, and Civilian Terror

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The Mental Health Consequences of Torture

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

A 55-year-old Bosnian refugee, newly arrived in Australia, attended a trauma treatment service complaining of frightening flashbacks, difficulties concentrating, extreme anxiety, nightmares, and insomnia. During the war, he had been drafted into the local militia and soon found himself on the front line. He spoke with guilt about the deaths of those he felt forced to shoot (“I was forced to kill my countrymen in a war that I never supported”). After a few days, a mortar shell landed in his trench, killing several of his friends and inflicting horrific injuries on others. The front was overrun, and he fled to his home, hiding with his family in the cellar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychiatry, Southwestern School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Derrick Silove

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon, 97201, USA

    J. David Kinzie

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  1. Derrick Silove
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  2. J. David Kinzie
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Center Building, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA

    Ellen Gerrity  & Farris Tuma  & 

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, 02130, USA

    Terence M. Keane

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Silove, D., Kinzie, J.D. (2001). Survivors of War Trauma, Mass Violence, and Civilian Terror. In: Gerrity, E., Tuma, F., Keane, T.M. (eds) The Mental Health Consequences of Torture. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1295-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1295-0_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5483-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1295-0

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