Abstract
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) follows a psychologically distressing event outside the usual human experience. Characteristic symptoms: re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoidance of stimuli associated with the event or numbing of general responsiveness and increased arousal. Using semi-structured questionnaires, we studied background, war traumas and physical/psycho-cmotional reactions in 163 Bosnian and 30 Croatian refugees (mainly mothers & children) in an Italian Red Cross camp. Results. Adults: PTSD in most, with psychiatric relevance in 16. Infants: csp. physical ailments (poor appetite; vomiting; colic; diarrhoea; constipation; alterations in sleep wake cycle, mood, and development), all worsening when psychological disturbances in mothers increased. Children >3 yrs: frequent PTSD with insomnia, restlessness, repetitive play, moodiness, psychosomatic symptoms. Adolescents: PTSD with defence mechanisms against anxiety (rationalisation and idealisation). Conclusions: infants better defended from traumas providing mothers act as a protective shield. Releasing tension through play is often ineffective in protecting Children. Adolescents' idealisation process tends to exasperate the contrapposition between friends and enemies, undermining their sense of reality and their personal identity.
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Donzelli, F., Lokar, V., Morbin, G. et al. WAR-RELATED POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. Pediatr Res 35, 267 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199402000-00077
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199402000-00077