title: [Analysis of long-term sequelae of the trauma of war on the mental health of Bosnian army veterans].
abstract: This paper wants to point out at the serious long-term consequences of the psychological trauma of the war on the mental health of a big number of Bosnian Army veterans: At the same time, the author is trying to identify crucial psychosocial and political reasons that have led to this situation and describe this specific psychopathology presented by this group of patients. Although nearly eight years has passed since the end of the war, the number of veterans who are seeking psychiatric assistance is still not decreasing because they find it more and more difficult to cope with their anxiety, irritability, anger and fury, inner bitterness, depression, pessimism, insecurity, loneliness and isolation, and the permanent feeling of emptiness, helplessness and inability to find and give meaning to their very existence. (They seem to be living only by default.) A significant number of patients in this group have already been diagnosed with serious somatic disorders, most frequently the disorders where traumatic stress plays significant role as a causative factor. The author of this paper has been actively involved in providing psychiatric assistance to this population of patients during the aggression. At that time, this group was permanently exposed to nearly all kinds of traumatic events that are known in the war. Paradoxically, a very small number of severe breakdowns have been noted at that time, and most of them were reversible by nature. The main reason for this incredible psychological resilience of our soldiers lies probably in their high motivation, because they were involved in defense that had no alternative. The end of the war that was unjust (it was ended by an agreement, but the fascism was not extinguished), as well as overall societal neglect for the need of this heavenly traumatized population in the post-war period, (they live in permanent insecurity, deprived of their rights, neglected and often even humiliated), present two key reasons that have led to psychological destabilization of a significant number of Bosnian Army veterans, and their consecutive impairment of social functioning. The psychopathology that is most frequently presented, undoubtedly has many elements of chronic PTSD, but in the essence it is much more complex and it deserves a great deal more professional attention and analysis than it has been given so far.
authors.affiliation: Psihijatrijska klinika KCU Sarajevo.
authors.forename: Senadin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ljubović
mesh_terms: D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014857:Warfare