Validation of the Impact of Event Scale for psychological sequelae of combat.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Z Solomon.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
This study assessed social functioning among three groups of Israeli soldiers: a) front-line soldiers who had been treated for combat stress reaction during the 1982 Lebanon war (N = 382); b) matched control front-line soldiers who did not sustain combat stress reaction (N = 334); and c) combat-ready soldiers who did not participate in the 1982 war (N = 88). Subjects were screened 1 year after the war for posttraumatic stress disorder and social functioning. Results indicated that participation in combat per se did not have adverse effects on postwar social functioning. However, combat stress reactions and posttraumatic stress disorder were found to be associated with a decline in postwar social functioning. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings were discussed.
This study assessed the role of family status and family relationships in the course of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The sample consisted of 382 Israeli soldiers who suffered a combat stress reaction episode during the 1982 Lebanon War. Results showed that one year after the war married soldiers had higher rates of PTSD than did unmarried soldiers. Furthermore, higher rates of PTSD were associated with low expressiveness, low cohesiveness, and high conflict in the casualties' families. Theoretical, methodological, and clinical implications are discussed.
The authors conducted an exploratory study of the nature and course of reactivation of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Experienced psychiatrists, they each independently assessed 35 men with recurrent combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Two major types of reactivated posttraumatic stress disorder, each representing a different degree of pathology, were delineated: uncomplicated reactivation and heightened vulnerability. The second category was further subdivided into specific sensitivity, moderate generalized sensitivity, and severe generalized sensitivity. The authors conclude that reactivation of war-related trauma is a complex phenomenon that may take different forms.
One year after the 1982 Lebanon War, the authors assessed the prevalence, type, and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder in a large representative sample of Israeli soldiers who had been treated for combat stress reactions. Comparisons were made with a group of soldiers who had fought in the same battles but had not been treated for this reaction. A dramatically higher percentage of soldiers with combat stress reaction (59%) than of soldiers without combat stress reaction (16%) developed posttraumatic stress disorder. Age was significantly associated with posttraumatic stress disorder. The authors discuss the differential quality of posttraumatic stress disorder among both groups as well as the factors facilitating recovery.
The use of an immunological metaphor allows the incorporation of established theoretical ideas about trauma and stress in an integrative way which enables delineation and illustration of several varieties of combat stress reaction, including subtle forms of that condition which do not often appear in post-traumatic stress disorder literature.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A sample of 382 Israeli soldiers who developed combat stress reactions (CSR) during the 1982 Israel-Lebanon War were compared with groups of carefully matched controls who did not develop CSR. Lack of social support from officers was found to be related to greater feelings of loneliness and greater likelihood of CSR in soldiers. Lack of social support from buddies was found to be related to greater loneliness. Intensity of battle was also found to be related to greater feelings of loneliness and increased likelihood of CSR. A path model was tested and supported. The model suggests that battle intensity and officer support lead to CSR directly and indirectly by causing increased feelings of loneliness. Possible cognitive and psychodynamic explanations for the findings are offered. The limitations of making causal statements from retrospective perceptions is discussed.
The authors examined the effectiveness of the prevailing treatment doctrine stressing the principles of proximity, immediacy, and expectancy for combat stress reaction among Israeli soldiers in the Lebanon War. Two treatment outcomes were measured: return to military unit and presence of posttraumatic stress disorder. All three treatment principles were associated with a higher rate of return to the military unit. The beneficial effect of frontline treatment was also evidenced by lower rates of posttraumatic stress disorder. The authors suggest that these principles can also be effective in treating other forms of posttraumatic stress disorder.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Lessons in mental health care learned from the October 1973 War were applied in the Lebanon War 1982. A three-echelon system of management was followed according to the practices prevalent in Western armies. The clinical pictures were essentially similar to those observed in other wars. Combat stress reactions (CSR) comprised 15 to 20% of the total casualties during the active phase of the war; the rate of late reactions was 30 to 40% of the total CSR. Treatment on the battlefield was more effective than treatment following airlift to the rear, in returning soldiers to their units. The role of stress in causing CSR, and the importance of leadership and cohesion in its prevention were evident. The important lessons learned from the Lebanon War are discussed and include: 1) the need for a broad definition of CSR; 2) the importance of forward unit intervention; 3) the necessity of mobility and divisibility of mental health treatment units; 4) fighting units should not be dispersed immediately after combat; and 5) the management of stress reactions to be the responsibility not only of the mental health services, but of all sections of the medical corps, both in treatment and prevention.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The Persian Gulf war in 1991 presented Israel with its first experience of a threat of chemical attack on the home front. Ground-to-ground missiles were aimed directly at civilian populations, threatening death and destruction over a period of several weeks. Uncertainty as to time, place, and nature of the missile attacks affected the civilian population psychologically. The psychological responses of the population were the result of the continuous nature of the emergency which affected the entire population, and the destruction, injury, and displacement which affected those who were the targets of the attacks. The primary psychological effects of the emergency were investigated in several ways: surveys of samples of civilian and rear-echelon military populations, studies of the military personnel who asked for ambulatory psychological treatment as a result of the war, and studies of the specific populations that bore the brunt of the actual physical attacks were conducted. These studies show a high level of distress in the samples, with considerable differentiation between the populations. Levels of functioning generally remained intact even among the displaced or injured. Interventions were based on experience gained in the treatment of combat stress reaction. The issues of evacuation of psychological casualties to hospitals, psychiatric aspects of chemical attacks, and secondary traumatization of therapeutic and other staff are emphasized.