Syrian refugee children and youth often face traumatic events and suboptimal conditions, which are increasingly exposed to armed conflict. War-related exposure can pose serious mental health risks and threats to a child’s development. Psychologists emphasize the importance of addressing children’s resilience and early childhood psychological development to limit human suffering, rebuild war-torn societies, and evade exploitation.
A systematic review of 35 studies involving 4365 young children examined the effects of exposure to war, conflict, and terrorism on children. The study found that war exposure affects children both directly by exposure to threats and by disruption of the social fabric supporting development. Children disproportionately bear the brunt of war, with childhood traumas permanently changing how the brain develops.
War impacts children’s access to education, hampering their learning from the earliest stages of life. They are also victims of armed conflicts, forced to evacuate, suffer from sexually transmitted diseases, and are deprived of education opportunities. Destruction, poverty, and violence create a vicious circle, with infrastructure being destroyed, schooling impeded, and closures often occurring.
The resilience of children is significantly impacted by daily stressors in their environment that are heightened during war. Prolonged exposure to violence, fear, and uncertainty can have a catastrophic impact on children’s learning, behavior, emotional and social well-being. Addressing children’s resilience and early childhood psychological development is essential to limit human suffering, rebuild war-torn societies, and evade exploitation.
📹 What is the Psychological Impact of War on Children?
As the Ukrainian war rages on, one area often overlooked is the impact on children. In this episode, we will explore psychological …
What are 5 negative effects of war?
War has a catastrophic impact on the health and well-being of nations, causing more mortality and disability than any major disease. It destroys communities, families, and disrupts the development of social and economic fabric. The effects of war include long-term physical and psychological harm to children and adults, as well as reduction in material and human capital. Other consequences include endemic poverty, malnutrition, disability, economic/social decline, and psychosocial illness.
Understanding conflicts and their mental health problems is crucial for developing effective strategies for dealing with such problems. The World Health Assembly and the WHO Executive Board have emphasized the importance of dealing with the psychological traumas of war, urging member states to strengthen action to protect children and support the implementation of programs to repair the psychological damage of war, conflict, and natural disasters. The most common conditions in armed conflict situations include depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic problems such as insomnia or back and stomach aches.
Why are children vulnerable in war?
Conflicts can have severe collateral effects on orphans and displaced children, leading to loss of family ties, internal or external displacement, and increased risk of abuse, exploitation, violence, and being enlisted as child soldiers. Children may also be forced to flee to escape armed conflict, experiencing severe poverty, abuse, exploitation, and psychosocial distress. Both the physical and mental integrity of children are gravely affected during times of armed conflict.
Preventing armed conflicts is the most effective preventative action to guarantee a safe life for all children. If peacekeeping is not possible, children must benefit from various protective measures. States and the international community must prioritize catering to the needs of children and protecting their fundamental human rights. Encouraging and supporting these actions is crucial.
How does war impact child development?
War zones are causing significant physical and psychological distress for children living in these areas. Many are recruited into conflict and experience sexual abuse from armed attackers. Even without direct abuse, children in these areas are sheltering underground since Russia’s invasion two years ago. The combination of fear, grief, and separation from loved ones is causing massive consequences, with 40% of children not attending in-person school.
What are the negative effects of war on children?
War can significantly impact children’s mental wellbeing, leading to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This condition, characterized by flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts, can also affect children displaced by conflict and violence. The negative effects of war include physical injuries, malnutrition, disrupted education, increased risk of exploitation, loss of family members, and psychological trauma.
To help children in conflict, ChildFund works with local partners in conflict zones and communities to help them survive and recover from the impacts of war. Donating to ChildFund can provide essential resources to families affected by war, such as creating safe spaces, offering psychological support, and providing educational opportunities. These steps help families rebuild their lives and support their children’s development, despite the challenges posed by conflict.
How does war change a person mentally?
Trauma from war can lead to anxiety and depression, which can occur independently or in combination with PTSD. Military sexual assault is particularly linked to depression. It’s crucial for individuals to seek mental health support before entering a war zone, as treatments like cognitive processing therapy, prolonged exposure therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing can help cope with these mental health conditions.
How does war trauma affect children?
War-exposed children, who often experience multiple traumatic events simultaneously, are at higher risks of psychological disorders such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety. They also tend to have poorer long-term physical health, with research showing that German children who experienced trauma during World War Two were twice as likely to experience congestive heart failure, three-and-a-half times more likely to have a stroke, and five times more likely to get cancer.
Traumatic exposures and violence trigger a strong physiological response, leading to disruptions in stress physiology and self-regulatory systems over time. The higher risks stem from how traumatic events can reroute a child’s developing nervous system, as their emotional and fear responses often shift into high-alert to survive. Even when the threat of violence fades, they can remain primed for reactivity, physiologically responding to any external cue, even one of safety, as if it’s a threat.
How can war have an impact on development?
War has numerous consequences beyond direct deaths, including forced migration, refugee flows, capital flight, and infrastructure destruction. Social, political, and economic institutions are significantly impacted. ScienceDirect uses cookies and cookies are used by the site. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B. V., its licensors, and contributors. All rights reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. Open access content follows Creative Commons licensing terms.
What are the 5 effects of war?
The occurrence of war is associated with an elevated prevalence of mental disorders, particularly among women, children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities. These disorders have been linked to a range of adverse outcomes, including psychological, physical, emotional, economic, and educational impacts.
How many children are affected by war?
A study conducted by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and Save the Children has revealed that 468 million children worldwide are affected by war and conflict. Of these, over one in six live in a conflict zone within a 50km radius. This figure has increased gradually since the establishment of War Child in the mid-1990s.
Can war cause generational trauma?
Refugees often face transgenerational trauma, which is the psychological and physiological effects of trauma experienced by individuals on subsequent generations in that group. This trauma, primarily transmitted through the shared family environment of the infant, can cause psychological, behavioral, and social changes in the individual. Collective trauma, on the other hand, is when psychological trauma experienced by communities and identity groups is carried on as part of the group’s collective memory and sense of identity.
For example, Jewish Holocaust survivors, Indigenous Peoples of Canada, and African Americans who were enslaved experienced collective trauma, which affects subsequent generations. Transgenerational trauma can affect groups of people who share a cultural identity, such as ethnicity, nationality, or religious identity, or single families or individual parent-child dyads. For example, survivors of individual child abuse and both direct survivors of the collective trauma and members of subsequent generations may develop complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
What happen to children during war?
During the war, children’s education suffered due to bombing damage and government requisitions. Large classes were filled with children, and supplies were scarce. Young male teachers were called up, while older teachers retired. Many children failed to reach literacy and numeracy levels post-war. However, children of all ages could participate in the war effort, such as joining Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, supporting Air Raid Precautions, and helping salvage war materials, raise funds for munitions, or knit comforts for troops.
📹 The PTSD brains of children & soldiers – BBC News
Scientists have discovered that the brain structures of traumatised soldiers and children change in the same way. Subscribe to …
Thank you for your article! My grandma was a child ww2 and has been deeply affected by the ukrainian war. Its heartbreaking seing that 90 y/o Lady sleepless and scared switching languages and (imo) switching between presence and past. I really hope the kids currently in war are getting the right support to help with the trauma.
I was born in Africa in Liberia west Africa, raise in and out of war. My father had to rush our paper work after my very last tramatic experience. I came to USA at age 9 years old. I suffer from PSTD( I didn’t know what it was at that time, bc as war survivors my family dont even talk about it). It started with the fire cracker july 4. Many kids laughed at me. I didn’t know what was going in. 911 was even worse. I was panicking in school n crying and having so much anxiety as to why my mother didnt come get me fast( as she usually did in Liberia) so that we culd run. We spend so many nights in Liberia laying on the floors and packed bag and fully dressed bc we have to run at anytime. during 911 I cried so much, the kids( American) and teachers thought I was crazy. In high school as I started to watch forensic n learn about PTSD with soldiers, that when I started to understand my trama. I suffer so much till this day. Im 35 now, and when I tell people Im a civil war survivor they tell me I DONT LOOK LIKE IT. Lol. I still cry when I explain my experience from age 3-9( what i can remember). The rest is like a dream( i guess I block it out) I know I need therapy but never went. I pray that child in my heal. War us horrible, especially for the women n innocent children. My cousins was child soldiers, my grandmother, her brother and my aunt got kidnap. My mother got separated from us bc of the war when I was 2. I feel sad at time in crowd area, and PSTD is my biggest issue. Im not sure if im depress it or have PTSD my boyfriend took me to a shooting spot day, the worse experience for me.
Greetings to The OMINOUS SOHOMINOUS (🤭) from the Majestic state of Alaska!! Like your new intro and it’s been awhile since you’ve had a dinosaur. The poor children, it’s beyond evil and tragic!!! I had NO idea how many children were subjected to such beyond atrocities!! I imagine they’re scarred for life as well as the adults. Can’t imagine what the parents go through and definitely NOT the children. No words can describe how I feel let alone how n what they all go through. I tried but it just doesn’t seem to be the right words. Thank for explaining and bringing up the subject. Something I think not many people even think about. Much love to you The OMINOUS SOHOMINOUS 💜
Something I love that my church does is every now and then we take responsibility for furnishing a new refugee family’s home. Not the big ticket items, but the little things that can mount up and get expensive, everything ranging from dish towels to a vacuum cleaner. Everyone in the church takes responsibility for buying at least one item on the list and our leadership takes it to wherever it needs to go.
Another great article, such a sad topic. Unfortunately we’ve seen so many children impacted by war we know exactly what it can do. Hopefully this knowledge helps charities and services on the ground helping these children and their families in recovering. Hope your world domination plans are coming along well Doc! 💕
This is me.I grew up in a household of constant yelling and screaming while constantly being moved around so I had nobody to talk to while suffering in silence.The result is 24/7 anxiety and paranoia, zero trust with anyone no matter how close you try to get or how long I have known you,list goes on and on. I am 29 now and have zero hope of improvement at this point.Despite all efforts my mind seems locked in defense mode and reverts to old patterns of fear despite anything I do
My mother and my brother had been beaten and I struggled mentally like depression, self-harm, alcohol, an eating disorder and so on since I was 13. Now I’m 28 and looks normal like a healthy person cuz I have a job, I live by myself and I know how to smile but sometimes I still drink when I’m stressed out or just recall something horrible about my father. It hurts me but comparing victims of sexual abuse or my own brother who killed himself, my problems aren’t big deal. But I feel so much pain and it doesn’t let me go😢 Feels like it would last forever
Please dont say that they found this out in 2016. I knew that when I was 10 years old. I was screwed. It does not matter if you are a soldier or a chiild who has been beathen throughout his youth. Reason for this is: A soldier who has been through hell, just let him smell the stuff he smelled there, of taste the things he has eaten there. Do the same with the kids. Then you have 2 terrified/angry persons who need all the help they need. I have been to a clinic in Holland. Met an awesome guy. Militair with ptsd. I am a grown big man which has been beaten and been psycgological “beaten” by the woman who gave birth to me. The best thing I found out, the guy from the USA and me, just a simple dutchman, have been gone through hell and back. Worst thing is, you know where most of us all are afraid off, if we get threathment? We are afraid of HEAVEN. We know hell as nobody knows this place. Just wanted to say this. As you say in the USA: I salute all those soldiers, veterans, people who have and still are helping those who need help for their trauma, the grown ups–> the adults who sometimes feel if their ball has been taken away and are more afraid then anybody can or could imagine. I do salute from the heart and I do wish you all the power and the courage to make choices. Cause you have choices. Nobody can tell you which choice you have to take, but please, listen to me, when i say: The consequence will be determined for you by others. Ask for help, get on facebook if you cant get help in the neighbourhood you live in.
Some health issues can be emotional and maybe not mental chemical imbalance. Mental health drugs may not be efficient in Emotional health issues as they may not require chemicals in the brain from psychiatry but rather mutual respect and unconditional love by parents and family… if family members are toxic, abusive etc, there is little chance the child will get better.
And why not adult victims of rape and domestic violence .. If anyone wants to study my brain I’d be more than happy to. Only I don’t do prescription meds.. not after having a kid with a history of hospital admissions for asthma at age 5.. leukemia at 11, relapse at 12, multiple near death experiences from adverse reactions .. so while I’m all for the miracles of modern medicine I only take it when necessary. In the mean time I have /need to get back to more meditation.. that’s what works but you have to stay the course . Staying present is key.. Not always easy when your assailant and psychological abuse are still a part of your life.. no contact isn’t always best for everyone. It comes down to managing your hyper vigilant limbic system .
as an ex solider that is plagued by ptsd and found one way out after alll else failed… meaning alcolism.. i can say.. i wont rais my children in the way.. they get love and understanding even tho it is very hard for me. they get pampered and made to find what is there way i am not like an “abused child” as implemented. i am hurt.. deeply hurt as i dit not just lost my firends but my famly 2 times.. and with dating after it.. lets just say.. now i got a woman that understands me.. and eveen then i just wait for the day that i am being left.. even tho i do everything
Has anyone considered that everyone has ‘ ptsd’ but healthy people just have discrete types of it. Snakes,hights pain etc. Probably more intriguing is do we really use our ptsd or lower brain in most situations and just have easier access to the higher brain. Like would we be animals with out societal influence. Think colloseum and Spartans values compared to Bible and Koran values. Can ptsd be for specific endeavors or situations.