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It is emphasized by the global peacekeeping organizations that countries resolve their conflicts through table talk and that they should refrain from carrying out full on offense against each other. The reason behind this is that when conflicts go violent and turn into wars, then they bring devastation to the public of the related states.
No matter how weak or feeble one of the competitors seems, there is always potential for it to hurt the stronger opponent hard. The illiterate and weaponless militants of the most devastated and unstable region like Afghanistan were able to bring down, what was the sign of the global power of the United States, the world trade center as part of their battle with the super power.
Those who die on the battlefield or get injured are directly affected by the events of the battle, whereas there are several more people who are although back in their homes, but are still jolted badly because of war.
Their mental health deteriorates through witnessing death and injury around them and though they may not come in direct contact and exposure of the warfare weaponry, they are brought into the circle of the effect of the environmental imbalance that is caused by war. The ecosystem gets poisoned to a great deal causing serious difficulties and health hazards to those who are living and breathing in that area.
According to the study of Abu Hein, Qouta, Thabet, and El Sarraj (1993), the real problem from warfare may not always be so visible in the form of loss of life or limb. They have studied that there is a close relationship between an event of warfare and prevalence of mental stress in children.
The study highlighted that the behavior and personality of the children who have witnessed war from close up or in their early years of life are likely to develop toxic emotions in their personality that can lead them to become failures in their lives or worse yet, make them destructive people when they grow up.
The study of Anna and Dorothy (1998), sheds light on the fact that the children who have had witnessed war from up close and especially those who have in any manner participated in the war go through the severe psychological stress and guilt disorders. When children are used in warfare, just like they are in the regions of central and northern Africa, they are also made to do a lot of cruel things like murder.
They are brainwashed into believing that the entire world is their enemy and that they must obey their superiors in order to get what they want. And the most prior thing in the list is always portrayed to be revenge.
Similarly, there have been studies that prove that the exposure to warfare-related activities to children in a regular manner causes the children to become emotionally charged. Because the children of a young age are very receptive, and they are witnessing death and destruction all the time, it so happens that their minds become more violent even at the pre-school level (Baker, 1990). Particularly, the children who witness death in their own family, worse yet of their own parents or siblings, they are likely to pass through intense fear and trauma.
Banatvala and Zwi (2000), have discussed that the services and mental rehabilitation centers that have been opened for a dedicated purpose of dealing and rehabilitating the children who have been affected by wars are ineffective to serve their cause.
According to the study, the institutions that are responsible for treating the mental disabilities of the affected children are not adequately equipped with instrumentation and lack the research grounds that are much needed to bring these children effectively back to their normal lives. Hence, they concluded that these post-war trauma treatment centers are not effective solutions to the problem.
On the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale, the psychologists can measure the extent to which the mental health has been damaged as a result of trauma. In this case, the trauma comes in the form of war-related stress in children. According to the study of Blake, Weather, Nagy et. Al. (1995), the children who score higher tan permissible on this scale are in need of immediate medical and psychological assistance.
If this condition is taken lightly and the child is not treated, then the stress can cause permanent damage to either one of two or both the aspects of the child’s life, those being psychological and behavioral. The study also signified that the children exposed to war in their early age are likely not to grow up with humanism in their personality as they grow up more and more barbaric.
According to Cope (2011), the children who are displaced as a result of conflict are equally affected mentally as are the children that have been exposed directly to the battle. This is so because when children are pushed out of their familiar territory and are made to live in refugee camps, then they miss their education and also do not get the desirable peaceful environment around them where they can relax their mind.
Because they are always under the shade of guns, that although have been installed for their protection, they develop negative mental conditions because still, there is always a fear of death or injury prevailing around them.
As part of the research carried out by Gary and Rubin (2014), the children who have been directly or indirectly affected by war are everyone’s problem. The study highlighted that though the children of Syrian are affected by war, they are being kept in refugee camps and are witnessing death and horror from up close, that is not leaving a good impression on their minds.
When these kids grow up, they will not own the world outside of Syria as they never got any support from the other countries other than the occasional supply of food and water. This can develop terrorist tendencies amongst these children as they may start looking at the entire world as their enemy. Therefore, though the insurgency and war might be confined to a distant and remote state, the effects of this war are bound to spread all over the world.
Not just full-scale war but the violence of any nature and sort is sufficient to cause mental health issues amongst children. As has been studied by Khamis (2000), the politicians who use violent ways for their gains are damaging the minds of the children. It is not uncommon in poorer and more unstable countries that the politicians trigger chaos that results in the killing of some people that results in their gain as they can pressurize the government to approve their demands.
When children see this and learn this mode of governance, the sense that life is precious is lost in the minds of these children. When the politicians channel the energies and mentalities of the public in a manner that the people are given an image that the only way to which they can have their political say is through violence. The value of debate and table talk and reconciliation is hence not emerged in the children who are exposed to such political conditions.
The economy has a very close relationship with the event of mental ailment amongst children living in a certain country. When a country is at war, its economy is bound to plunge, and this causes severe problems to the people living in that region. The people who are responsible for earning bread and butter for their family and those who have to pay for their children’s health are disabled to do that.
This affects the children in such a way that they are pushed into the state of poverty where they believe that they do not possess what is required to live a good life. As has been signified in the study of UNRWA (2013), the Syrian crises, for instance, did not see any kind of substantial help from the neighboring countries.
Because the country that is being hurt by terrorism is left to deal with its problems alone, the possibilities of improvement in these countries are reduced tremendously. The non-government organizations that are meant for the purpose of channeling resources from the wealthier nations to the poorer ones have been found to have either lacked the intent for performing this job effectively or have been found to lack the infrastructure needed for carrying out large scale reformatory practices.
Several non-government organizations have also been found guilty of and have been sanctioned for not being transparent and for being corrupt in the resource utilization. This is one of the reasons why the aid that is provided by some countries for the affected region are not distributed to the grass root level.
Ward and Marsh (2006), have studied a horrifying side effect of war that is related to the girls and women that are left homeless and unprotected during the events of the war. There has been reported that several hundred and even thousands of girls and women get raped while war is happening. When there is war, there is complete chaos in the affected region and the people who are fighting get ample chances to carry out events of robbery and rape. Because there is no law and order that prevents this from happening, the number of these events escalates to an alarming level. What is even more troubling is that the events of rape carried out during the war are mostly against the girls that are younger than 16 years of age.
Those who rape these girls are either the insurgents that are fighting against the people of the affected region or are the soldiers of the supporting army. The problem is that the public of the affected regions are left at the mercy of these people as they can do whatever they want with them.
Even when the war is over with, the events of rape leave a very bad and lasting impact on the minds of the affected people. Not only the directly affected that has been the victim of rape but her entire family has to pass through mental trauma. This problem is escalated when the victim of rape is a young girl that is yet to live her entire life. Sexual violation against will leaves a very negative impact on the heart and mind of that child as she grows up to become a nonproductive part of the society.
According to the study of Ward and Marsh (2006), 6% of the survivors that had been raped during the event of war were aged less than 16 years. But this does not mean that older women did not get raped as the victims range from 7 years and younger to 50 years and older in the events of the war that take place all over the world.
It can, therefore, be understood that the children in the condition of chaos and riots such as wars are much disturbed by the fact that they are unprotected, and tainted elements take advantage of this. Apart from that, the events that unfold cause devastation to the mental condition of children.
Rehabilitation of such children is difficult mainly because of the fact that these events leave a lasting effect on the minds, and it is difficult for the rehabilitators to bring these children back to normal and to make them functional and productive parts of the society once again.
References:
Anna, F, Dorothy, B (1998). War and Children. Jon A, S. Children Exposed to War.
Retrieved April 1, 2016 from http: //www.countercurrents.org/hr-selval181104.htm.
Baker, A. M. (1990). The psychological impact of the Intifada on Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and Gaza: An exploratory study.American journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(4), 496.
Banatvala, N., & Zwi, A. B. (2000). Conflict and health: public health and humanitarian interventions: developing the evidence base. British Medical Journal, 321(7253), 101.
Blake, D. D., Weathers, F. W., Nagy, L. M., Kaloupek, D. G., Gusman, F. D., Charney, D. S., & Keane, T. M. (1995). The development of a clinician-administered PTSD scale. Journal of traumatic stress, 8(1), 75-90.
Cope, J. R. (2011). Estimating the factors associated with health status and access to care among Iraqis displaced in Jordan and Syria using population assessment data. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.
Fasfous, A. F., Peralta-Ramírez, I., & Pérez-García, M. (2013). Symptoms of PTSD among Children Living in War Zones in Same Cultural Context and Different Situations. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 7(2).
Gary, J., & Rubin, N.S. (2014). A first person account of the refugee experience: Identifying psychosocial stressors and formulating psychological responses. Psychology International. Retrieved April 1, 2016. from http://www.apa.org/international/pi/2014/12/globalviolence.aspx
Khamis, V. (2000). Political violence and the Palestinian family: Implications for mental health and well-being. Haworth Press.
U NRWA (2013) The Syrian Catastrophe: socioeconomic monitoring report first quarterly report (January – March 2013), prepared by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research, p. 5. Retrieved April 1, 2016. from www.unrwa.org/ userfiles/2013071244355.pdf, last checked 15th August 2013
Ward, J., & Marsh, M. (2006, June). Sexual violence against women and girls in war and its aftermath: Realities, responses, and required resources. InSymposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Beyond (Vol. 21, p. 23).
