Ecological integrated model of children of war: individual and social psychology

Abstract

The psychological trauma associated with war is a topic that has occupied the attention of mental health researchers and practitioners for some time. Most of their attention, though, has focused on the traumatic stress of soldiers, and little attention has been paid to the problems and traumatization of civilians caught in war zones, especially the children. In this paper, the limited research on children of war is reviewed, and themes are extracted. Children suffer from both acute and chronic traumatic stress. The key to determining the amount of suffering has to do with the dynamic interaction among five processes within an ecological framework: the child's psychobiological makeup, the disruption of the family unit, the breakdown of community, and the ameliorating effects of culture. The intensity, suddenness and duration of the war-like experience itself constitute an additional component to this ecological model. In the final section, psychotherapeutic guidelines to help children cope with symptoms associated with war are presented for current and future caregivers. The prevention of war should be the primary task of all.