Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT November 21, 2003 "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy (Inaugural Address, Jan 20, 1961)
Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, there will be no Newsletter next week.
Publication will resume on December 5, 2003. Best wishes to all for a Happy and Peaceful Thanksgiving.
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Disaster Mental Health Institute
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CONFERENCE ON RURAL CRISIS INTERVENTION
AND CURRENT STATE OF CISM/CISD
Middle East/North Africa Regional
Conference of Psychology
December 13 - 16, 2003
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Contact: Dr. Raymond H. Hamden
MENA RCP, PO Box 11806
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971-4- 331-4777
Fax: +971-4-331-4001
E-mail: menarcp@hotmail.comSociety of Australasian
Social Psychologists 33rd Annual Meeting
April 15 - 18, 2004
Location: Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
27th National AACBT Conference
(Australian Association for
Cognitive and Behavior Therapy)
May 15 - 19, 2004
Location: Perth, Western Australia
AUSTRALIA
5th Conference of the
European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology
November 20-21, 2003
Location: Berlin, Germany
Society of Australasian Social Psychologists
33rd Annual Meeting
April 15 - 18, 2004
Location: Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Contact: SASP@auckland.ac.nz
Deadline for submissions: 1 February 2004WFPHA 10th International Congress on
Public Health: Sustaining Public Health
in a Changing World: Vision to Action
April 19-22, 2004
Location: Brighton, ENGLAND
Contact: Allen K. Jones, PhD
Secretary General World Federation of
Public Health Associations
Email: stacey.succop@apha.orgHawaii International Conference on Education
January 3-6, 2004
Location: Honolulu Hawaii, USA
Email: education@hiceducation.orgXIV. IFTA World Family Therapy Congress
March 24 - 27, 2004
Location: Istanbul, TURKEY
14th Biennial Meeting of the Society
for Research in Human Development
(formerly the Southwestern Society for
Research in Human Development -- SWSRHD)
April 1 - 3, 2004
Location: Park City, Utah, USA
7th European Conference on Psychological Assessment
April 1 - 4, 2004
Location: Malaga, SPAIN
Contact: Antonio Godoy
Facultad de Psicologia
Universidad de Malaga
29071 Malaga.( SPAIN)
Tel. (34) 952 13 25 32
Fax (34) 95213 11 00
Email: godoy@uma.esAnnual Conference Society for
Industrial/Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
April 2 - 4, 2004 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Email: lhakel@siop.bgsu.edu
Legacy of the Kennedy Presidency
Inaugural - Friday, January 20, 1961 Heavy snow fell the night before the inauguration, but thoughts about cancelling the plans were overruled. The election of 1960 had been close, and the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts was eager to gather support for his agenda. He attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown that morning before joining President Eisenhower to travel to the Capitol. The Congress had extended the East Front, and the inaugural platform spanned the new addition. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Robert Frost read one of his poems at the ceremony. Kennedy's Inaugural Address: http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html
During his relatively brief term of office--less than three years--President Kennedy dealt with severe challenges in Cuba, Berlin, and elsewhere. A nuclear test ban treaty in 1963 brought about a relaxation in cold war tensions following a time of severe confrontation early in the administration. Domestically, much of the Kennedy program was unfulfilled, brought to fruition only in the Johnson administration. The U.S. space program, however, surged ahead during the Kennedy administration, scoring dramatic gains that benefited American prestige worldwide.
An assassin's bullet cut short Kennedy's term as president. On Nov. 22, 1963, the young president was shot to death while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. As the nation joined in mourning, dignitaries from around the world gathered at his funeral in Washington to pay their respects. Mayor Willy Brandt of West Berlin expressed the world's sense of loss when he said that "a flame went out for all those who had hoped for a just peace and a better life."
The assassination of President Kennedy was a pivotal moment in American history. Millions of Americans can never forget where they were or what they were doing when they heard the news that he was shot. Kennedy's death and the subsequent period of mourning transfixed the nation. Memorial Page for President Kennedy: http://members.aol.com/JFKin61/jfk.html
Biography of President Kennedy: http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/jfk/summary.html
FEMA Authorizes Funds To Help Fight Buckhorn Creek Fire
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today authorized the use of federal funds to help Colorado fight the Buckhorn Creek Fire burning in Larimer County west of Fort Collins near Masonville. The fire has already burned about 125 acres. For More, Go To: http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=7864
Annan ‘utterly condemns’ latest terrorist bombings in Turkey
20 November – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today “utterly condemned” the latest car bombings in Turkey that wrecked the British consulate and the HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul, killing at least 26 people. For the Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8945&Cr=turkey&Cr1=
Iran committed many breaches of nuclear treaty but now cooperating – UN
Iran has committed many breaches of its obligations under a safeguards agreement aimed at preventing the development of nuclear weapons but has already taken or is taking corrective action, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said today, indicating that he favoured a diplomatic solution. For the Full Story, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8940&Cr=iran&Cr1=
New Web-Based Compendium Helps Officials Interested In Federal Terrorism Training
On Nov. 3, 2003, the Department of Homeland Security launched a searchable Web-based "Compendium of Federal Terrorism Training," a database originally developed by the Army in 1998 and significantly updated and redesigned by FEMA's Emergency Management Institute.
This new Web-based compendium provides state and local officials a single location to quickly and easily obtain detailed information on all terrorism training available from federal departments and agencies. Users can query the system for specific subject area, by department or agency, or alphabetically. They can also print out customized lists of training that meets specific requirements or even an entire database catalog. The compendium includes details such as course objectives, intended audience, how the training is delivered (in the field, at a training center, by distance learning), and how to enroll students or arrange for the training to be delivered in a particular jurisdiction.
The compendium serves as a tangible demonstration of the department's support for a single portal through which to state, local and tribal officials can access up-to-date and detailed information on federal terrorism-related training. The compendium can be reached at: http://www.fema.gov/compendium/index.jsp.
Israelis, Palestinians must seize new chance for peace, senior UN official says
With a new Palestinian Prime Minister in place, all parties involved in peace-building between Israelis and Palestinians should recommit themselves to the process and leave behind the inaction of the past month, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today. For More, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8934&Cr=miffle&Cr1=east
Latin America and Caribbean to discuss human trafficking at UN meeting
Latin American and Caribbean countries will discuss how to combat the practice of trafficking in people later this week during a three-day conference organized by the United Nations. For More, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8906&Cr=human&Cr1=trafficking
Gates Foundation gives $10 million to UN fight against deadly maternal tetanus
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has received a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fight maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), which kills an estimated 230,000 mothers and babies annually in the poorest and most remote areas of the world. For More, Go To: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8921&Cr=tetanus&Cr1=
A Rational Approach to Antipsychotic Pharmacotherapy - CME
In order to maximize their therapeutic impact, the advantages and disadvantages of typical and atypical antipsychotic agents must be weighed so that the optimal therapeutic/risk benefit ratio is achieved. Medscape Psychiatry 2003 For the article, Go To: http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/2675
Sept. 11 Attacks Caused Rise in Acute MIs
Acute MI cases surged at one Brooklyn hospital after the September 11th attacks, which supports the idea that psychological stress can be a trigger, researchers reported on Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando. For the article, Go To: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/464366?mpid=21121
Social Isolation May Lead to Poor Health Behaviors
Study also finds that C-reactive protein, IL-6, and fibrinogen levels may be indicators of social isolation. Medscape Medical News 2003 For the article, Go To: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/464401?mpid=21121
THE MEDICAL MINUTE: NOV. 20: A GOOD DAY TO QUIT SMOKING
The American Cancer Society's annual "Great American Smokeout" is Nov. 20. If you smoke, now is a good time to become a non-smoker. According to the latest edition of the Medical Minute, a service of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, smoking kills 440,000 Americans annually -- almost one person every minute. Most smoking deaths are from lung cancer, heart disease and chronic lung disease. Before the first Surgeon General's report on the hazards of smoking in 1964, about half of adult Americans smoked. Fortunately today that number is about 22 percent overall. However, 90 percent of us have nicotine in our blood from secondhand smoke, which causes about 3,000 lung cancer deaths yearly among non-smokers. Read the full story at http://live.psu.edu/story/4753
WAR TRAUMA AND ANXIETY
A war or a national crisis situation is accompanied by an increase in stress and anxiety levels within the population - among civilians as well as military. It also results in posttraumatic stress in both populations which can last for very extended periods of time. For example, Lindorff (2002) notes that little is known about the psychological effects of war service on Australian World War II veterans. In an attempt to understand some of these effects, 88 survivors (aged 75-91 yrs) of one of the war's most intense actions (the Isurava battle on the Kokoda Track in Papua in August 1942) responded to a survey asking for their recollections of the battle, and for a description of its effect on them. Many said that they had yet to recover from the experience. Large numbers indicated continuing ill effects. These included nightmares, sleeplessness, negative imagery, "flashbacks", problems with concentration, weeping, generalized anxiety, and distress caused by situations recalling the battle. Many commented that they had never talked to anyone about their war experiences, or the effects of these experiences. Only two veterans reported seeking or receiving any treatment for their symptoms (Lindorff, 2002).
Traumatic experiences associated with the war in Bosnia (1992-1995) impacted the lives of many Bosnian refugees and displaced people. Approximately 25% of Bosnians were forced to leave their homes and resettle in other areas of Bosnia or abroad. Plante, Simicic, Andersen, & Manuel (2002) describe war-related stress and the association of marital status, anxiety, depression, and sensitivity levels. 82 displaced Bosnians living in the area of Tuzla, Bosnia, and 53 refugees living in the San Francisco Bay area completed the same questionnaire in the Bosnian language. Better self-reported health was related to being single, having lower anxiety ratings, finding and adapting to a new environment easily, and moving on with life. Findings also revealed that being divorced or separated, better self-reported health, and lower anxiety, depression, and sensitivity ratings were predictors of more effective coping.
Thabet & Abed (May 2002) assessed the nature and severity of emotional problems in 91 Palestinian children (aged 9-18 yrs) exposed to home bombardment and demolition during Al Aqsa Intifada and 89 age-matched controls who had been exposed to other types of traumatic events related to political violence. The Ss completed self-report measures of post-traumatic stress (PTS), anxiety, and fears. Significantly more children exposed to bombardment and home demolition reported symptoms of PTS and fear than controls. 54 (59%) of 91 exposed children and 22 (25%) of 89 controls reported PTS reactions of clinical importance. Exposure to bombardment was the strongest socioeconomic predictor of PTS reactions. By contrast, children exposed to other events, mainly through the media and adults, reported more anticipatory anxiety and cognitive expressions of distress than children who were directly exposed. Children living in war zones can express acute distress from various traumatic events through emotional problems that are not usually recognised. Health professionals and other agencies coming in contact with children who have been affected by war and political violence need to be trained in detection and treatment of such presentations.
As part of a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) psychosocial programme during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, data were collected from a community sample of 2,976 children aged between 9 and 14 years (Smith, Perrin, Yule & Hacam, Apr 2002). Children completed standardized self-report measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, and grief, as well as a report of the amount of their own exposure to war-related violence. Results showed that children reported high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and grief reactions. However, their self-reported levels of depression and anxiety were not raised. Levels of distress were related to children's amount and type of exposure. Girls reported more distress than boys, but there were few meaningful age effects within the age band studied.
Even a passing interest in daily news events confirms that violent crime, disasters, serious accidents, war, and other forms of traumatic events occur frequently and with great impact upon individuals, families, and communities. Research studies have confirmed several crucial facts regarding the nature of traumatic events (Freedy & Hobfoll, 1995). These facts include:
(1) that traumatic events occur frequently, impacting large numbers of people;(2) that exposure to traumatic events substantially increases the risk of several serious mental health problems; and
(3) that it is possible to limit the impact of traumatic events through the application of prevention, assessment, and treatment strategies.
Vicarious Trauma
The overabundant use of TV footage, both live and on tape, allows traumatic events to be shown to vast audiences who may never have been exposed to such events previously. Presenting such events live in real time can contribute to stress and anxiety in a population that is not directly affected by the event(s). Lutenberg (2002) discusses the peculiar and antithetical combination of hope and death that occur in a population at the moment when it is overcome by collective, traumatic events, sealed by uncanny situations. He presents some meta-psychological and psychodynamic difficulties related to the articulation between the inner and outer world of people undergoing this problem. According to these variables, the emotion emerging like an ego alert against danger will be anxiety or terror. Facing fanaticism, everything turns into something else (terror or anxiety disappear).
Lutenberg suggests that we have entered a new historical period. Its starting point was signalled by the TV transmission of The Gulf War. He contends that the border between the actors of the tragedy and the TV audience has been broken. The concept of war and war front has changed. This gives birth to patterns of what is known as "Civilization and its Discontents." Under such circumstances, social reality turns uncanny, that is, unfamiliar. The ego and the super-ego are open structures that regress when facing an uncanny culture.
Lutenberg considers it indispensable to revise the clinical descriptions of psychopathological structures, in the light of violence. TV coverage of the current Iraq War is likely to have similar effects and will likely promote anxiety, stress and trauma experiences in some viewers.
Education About Risks
The response to 'new security' risks requires significant changes in public behavior, and the legitimization of unpopular government policies. Public education is one means of achieving this. The need is reflected in initiatives such as environmental and development education, health promotion, and the public understanding of science. Current strategies are often based on commercial advertising, but mass communications theory does not directly encompass influencing perception, which is necessary to create awareness of the new 'invisible' risks. Recent evolutionary brain science is providing new insights into our species perception deficits, which can inform a more effective approach to public education. Williams (2002) places risk within the context of the post-Cold War 'global security' agenda. He proposes a theoretical framework--'brain lag'--to explain perceptual deficits. It draws on theories of information, adaptation and denial, and an understanding of the human senses including time-scale-latency. He proposes fundamental areas of evolutionary perception: fear and disgust, number perception, and cheating. This leads to a core concept for public education about new security risks, 'enhanced difference', and a set of hypotheses that can be applied to text or image. Whatever approach, fear remains a potent motivator of behavior. It is one that is consistently utilized for control and is manipulated by others for maximum effects. Helping those traumatized by fears is a major task for psychologists and others attempting to help them readjust to the world and to achieve a level of equilibrium.
Conclusions And Summary
The above cited studies identify a number of variables that should be considered when reviewing the adjustment to the Iraq War. These should also include the extent of combat experience of veterans and types of combat experiences. Combat guilt has been found in a number of previous studies to be a strong predictor of suicide attempts and preoccupation with suicide. However, the extent of combat experience in at least one study was found to not be a good predictor of suicide. Problem areas identified which should be assessed for in returning military include depression, anger, guilt about combat actions, survivor guilt, anxiety,domestic conflicts, substance abuse, traumatic memories and others. It is likely that these problems may not manifest themselves immediately. It is also likely that those who were exposed to more severe circumstances (e.g. losing a close buddy in combat or as a prisoner) will be more at risk. Individual levels of resilience are likely to vary for a variety of reasons.
Effects of these experiences on families and children of returning veterans also needs attention. When one or more members of a family are traumatized, the entire family can suffer from posttraumatic symptoms. Unfortunately, this may go unrecognized by the family, friends, and professionals. A cycle of posttraumatic victimization and fragmentation of family integrity can lead to disastrous consequences. The posttraumatic phases leading to such a destructive outcome can potentially involve events like a young adult child's suicide, combat trauma and loss, or a child's witness of parental suicide. Treatment of the traumatized families may include psychoeducational, psychodynamic, systemic, behavioral, and spiritual interventions.
Major factors affecting families with military members include war-zone military service, family separation, and readjustment back into the community by service members. Posttraumatic stress (including PTSD) and psychosocial malfunctioning are among problems encountered. Strengths that contribute to resiliency by all family members include religious values, a positive outlook on life events, family support and various forms of psycho-social interventions. Children living and surviving in war zones are affected adversely in a number of developmental ways and are at severely increased risk of becoming unproductive members of their society.
Reactions and responses to the trauma of war experiences have been studied and written about over the centuries and following most wars. Following each of the major conflicts of the twentieth century there was a flourish of studies that attempted to explain and deal with such trauma. In an early inter-war study that reviewed the causes of individual fear, Chavigny (1930) discussed the elements which compose it: the intellectual (the idea), the affective (suffering), the physical (the vaso-motor, visceral disturbances, etc.), and the active elements (effort). He then showed by a very extensive clinical documentation what fear is as found in armies. From these observations he concluded that such fear does not present any special characteristics. However, there is one additional observation that can sometimes be made. If the fear is engendered immediately after the emotional shock which caused it, there is in a certain number of cases a period of meditation, of maturation, which is analogous to that observed in cases of hysterical, post-traumatic accidents (Chavigny, 1930). The military and society in general have struggled with how to better prepare military personnel for the trauma of war as well as how best to re-integrate into society following conclusion of such conflicts.
Each war or military conflict has slightly different effects due to a number of variables. However, the existing literature seems to suggest that there are some common adjustment factors that should be taken into account. Combat veterans returning from the Iraq War will likely have some specific adjustment problems among some members. These are likely to be dependent upon previous histories, combat experiences, previous combat experience, levels of training, presence or absence of adequate family support systems, and a myriad of other variables. Individual resilience, hardiness, personal expectations, levels of education, and personality factors will contribute to adequate return to equilibrium among returning combat veterans.
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REFERENCES Chavigny (1930). La peur aux armees en campagne, sa medecine legale. Guerre de 1914-1918. (Fear in field armies and its medico-legal aspects. The war of 1914-1918.) Strasbourg Medical, 90, pp. 606-612; 621-626; 645-652; 705-711; 785-793.
Freedy, John R., (Ed) & Hobfoll, Stevan E., (Ed) (1995). Traumatic stress: From theory to practice. Series Title: Plenum series on stress and coping. xvii, 402 pp.
Lindorff, Margaret (2002). After the war is over...PTSD symptoms in World War II veterans. Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, Vol 6(2), pp. [np]. Journal URL: http://www.massey.ac.nz/~trauma/
Lutenberg, Jaime Marcos (2002). Malestar en la Cultura Contemporanea. Lo Siniestro. Translated Title: Discontent in contemporary civilization: The uncanny. Psicoanalisis: Revista de la asociacion Psicoanalitica de Buenos Aires, Vol 24(1-2), pp. 111-127. Journal URL: http://www.apdeba.org/publicaciones
Plante, Thomas G., Simicic, Azra, Andersen, Erin N. & Manuel, Gerdenio (Jan 2002). Stress and coping among displaced Bosnian refugees: An exploratory study. International Journal of Stress Management, Vol 9(1). pp. 31-41.
Smith, Patrick, Perrin, Sean, Yule, William & Hacam, Berima (Apr 2002). War exposure among children from Bosnia-Hercegovina: Psychological adjustment in a community sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol 15(2), pp. 147-156. Journal URL: http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0894-9867
Thabet, Abdel Aziz Mousa & Abed, Yehia (May 2002). Emotional problems in Palestinian children living in a war zone: A cross-sectional study. Lancet, Vol 359(9320), pp. 1801-1804.
Williams, Christopher (Jul 2002). 'New security' risks and public educating: The significance of recent evolutionary brain science. Journal of Risk Research, Vol 5(3), pp. 225-248. Publisher URL: http://www.tandf.co.uk
To search for books on disasters and disaster mental
health topics, leaders, leadership, orgainizations,
crisis intervention, leaders and crises, and related
topics and purchase them online, go to the following url:
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html
RECOMMENDED READING
The Culture of Defeat: On National Trauma, Mourning, and Recovery
by Wolfgang Schivelbusch (Author), Jefferson Chase (Translator)
From Publishers Weekly
This unusual study compares societies that lost major wars and survived, as opposed to being dismantled by their conquerors. Schivelbusch (Disenchanted Night, etc.) addresses the question of how the American South after 1865, France after 1871 and Germany after 1918 came to terms with what happened to them. He describes a two-level coping process, in each case directed by pre-war elites that successfully manipulated postwar mentalities in order to retain power. The first level involved creating myths that mitigated the psychological impact of defeat: the former Confederacy carefully tended the "Lost Cause"; France scapegoated the empire of Napoleon III; Germany turned to legends of an army undefeated at the front but betrayed by domestic weakness. A second structure of myths focused on regeneration and recovery. In America that involved industry and a restoration of white supremacy (eventually, Schivelbusch finds, acknowledged as appropriate by the North); for France, Republican government, military renovation and imperialism; Germany turned heavily to "modern" fashions (jazz and movies) and dreams of altering what was regularly described as the "disgraceful" Versailles peace settlement. Such dreams, Schivelbusch finds, were more passive speculation than active preparation for revenge: even after Hitler's accession to power, ordinary Germans were reluctant to consider treaty revision if the price would be war. For all three societies discussed here, the best revenge for defeat was seen not as payback but as living well and moving into a positive future. That the eventual results-the murderous lynchings of the Jim Crow South, the horrific scale of death in Nazi Germany-were far from "positive" is well-understood by Schivelbusch, but beyond the scope of this book. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
A fascinating look at history's losers-the myths they create to cope with defeat and the steps they take never to be vanquished again
History may be written by the victors, Wolfgang Schivelbusch argues in his brilliant and provocative new book, but the losers often have the final word. Focusing on three seminal cases of modern warfare-the South after the Civil War, France in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War, and Germany following World War I-Schivelbusch reveals the complex psychological and cultural reactions of vanquished nations to the experience of military defeat.
Drawing on responses from every level of society, Schivelbusch shows how conquered societies question the foundations of their identities and strive to emulate the victors: the South to become a "better North," the French to militarize their schools on the Prussian model, the Germans to adopt all things American. He charts the losers' paradoxical equation of military failure with cultural superiority as they generate myths to glorify their pasts and explain their losses: the nostalgic "plantation legend" after the fall of the Confederacy; the cult of Joan of Arc in vanquished France; the fiction of the stab in the back by "foreign" elements in postwar Germany. From cathartic epidemics of "dance madness" to the revolutions that so often follow battlefield humiliation, Schivelbusch finds remarkable similarities across cultures.
Eloquently and vibrantly told, The Culture of Defeat is a tour de force that opens new territory for historical inquiry.
Additional Readings at:
Also try looking here for September 11, 2001: A Simple Account for Children.
Videos on Terrorism
Other videos about terrorism
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Contact your local Mental Health Center or
check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists,
therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in
your area for further information.
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George W. Doherty
Rocky Mountain Region
Disaster Mental Health Institute
Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news
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