PTSD in Refugees

• Typical traumatic events suffered by civilians in a war zone include rape, torture, being forced to work for the combatants, mock executions and witnessing harm being done to loved ones. In many cases, civilians have been forced from their homes as well. According to the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs, a study of refugees from the Bosnian conflict found that 25 percent of them suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. One-third of the refugees showed symptoms of depression. The symptoms were found to be most severe among those refugees who had been tortured.
  
  

Symptoms in Non-Refugees

• Rates of PTSD are much higher in a war zone even among those who are not refugees. According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association quoted by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the rate of PTSD in the United States was about 8 percent in 2001. By comparison, the rate of PTSD in war-torn Algeria was 37.4 percent and a rate of 17.8 percent in the Gaza Strip. The prevalence of terror attacks and torture were both cited as factors in these high rates of post-traumatic stress.
  
  

Normalization

• Civilians exposed to war stress appear to find ways of coping as time goes by. Studies of the Israeli-Lebanon war of 1982 and of the Gulf War both showed that civilians experienced highly increased stress levels in the early stages of the conflict, but that these numbers tended to level out over time. Even in cases where the war had not yet ended, stress levels peaked and then dropped back to where they were before the fighting began. Civilian populations appeared to be able to adjust to prolonged exposure to war stress when the civilians had not personally experienced traumas such as torture or displacement.
  
  

Effects on Children

• Children can be particularly vulnerable to the trauma of war. Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud, developed the psychoanalysis of children as a result of her work with displaced children in England during World War II. Children in war zones have been forced into prostitution, and have also experienced forced displacement from their homes and the loss of parents and other loved ones. In some cases they have been forced to fight as child soldiers.