Psychological impact of the Los Angeles riots on Korean-American victims: implications for treatment

The psychological impact of the 1992 Los Angeles riots on 202 Korean-American victims who sustained financial loss or physical injury was investigated. Results indicate that the majority of these riot victims underwent severe distressed and experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Related research on trauma survivors is reviewed and implications for treatment are discussed.

[The search for historical truth: psychotherapeutic work with Bosnian refugees]

The trauma haunting refugees from ex-Yugoslavia is inextricably bound up with complex processes of historical change. In order to be able to understand and treat their severe psychic problems, psychotherapists have to go in search of the historical truth, which is frequently masked by myths and obsolete notions. Only when a psychotherapist who has received the relevant interdisciplinary schooling acknowledges the existence of completely new historical experiences can s/he provide effective support for Bosnian Muslims fleeing "ethnic cleansing" and attempting to achieve self-healing, learning and growth after such an extreme form of collective and individual destruction. In this way the psychotherapist becomes an initiated listener and a unique witness of a form of historical truth that for the traumatized patients themselves is at first entirely or largely beyond recall and comprehension.

The fatalities of the Intifada (uprising): the first five years

The uprising of the Palestinian population (Intifada) against the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which erupted in December 1987, has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli citizens and Palestinian residents. The data on dead victims, as reported by two civil rights organizations of opposite political orientation and by the official military authority, are analyzed and compared with the information obtained from post-mortem examinations of some 65% of the victims carried out over the period 1987 to 1992. The agencies' reports were found to differ, sometimes markedly, from the official autopsy data in respect of number of deaths, their cause and manner. The study indicates a generally downward trend in the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli Defence Forces, which could be the result of the wider use of rubber and plastic bullets, and a steady continuous increase in Israeli victims killed by the Palestinians, possibly accounted for by a shift from the use of "cold weapons" in favour of firearms, and an escalation in violence. It is suggested that the post-mortem examination should be an essential tool for the detection and documentation of possible abuse and bodily harm.

Integrating African and Western healing practices in South Africa

Through a detailed analysis of a dream shared by three adolescent girls suffering from PTSD, this paper has outlined many similarities between an African and a Western understanding of their symptoms. It has shown how both systems would acknowledge these symptoms to be a function of: (a) the breaching of stimulus boundaries; (b) the existence of survivor guilt; (c) the phenomenon of frozen mourning. It has illustrated further how many factors considered to be part of Western psychotherapy, e.g., (a) catharsis following an emotional reliving of the traumatic event; (b) re-ordering of perceptions following insight; (c) fostering hope for the future following a re-establishment of continuity with the past, may be promoted while interpreting dreams within the traditional meanings ascribed to them by an African healing framework. That is, it has been shown how these elements may be fostered while working within the African belief that dreams are not the manifestation of intrapsychic conflict but communications from ancestral spirits concerning interpersonal duties that need to be fulfilled. Finally this paper has illustrated the importance of therapists developing a general appreciation of myths and metaphors.

Predictors of mental health in women of a politically unstable country, the Philippines

In a study conducted in Manila, the Philippines, the relationships among the (a) negative appraisal of and coping with political instability, (b) sociodemographic characteristics, (c) morale, and (d) mood of Filipino women (N = 200) were investigated. Findings were as follows: The political instability in the Philippines had a mild negative impact on the women's lives. The women reported mild depression and moderate morale. Their primary coping style was problem-focused coping. A positive relationship was found among annual individual income, educational achievement, and morale. A negative relationship was found among annual individual income, educational achievement, and depression. Negative relationships were also found between negative appraisals of news of brutal murders and morale and between frequent changes in the President's cabinet and morale. A positive relationship was found between affect-focused coping and depression, whereas problem-focused coping and depression were negatively related. No relationship was found between coping style and morale. The findings are discussed from the perspectives of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) coping theory and Filipino culture. Guidelines for health care delivery are specified.

Tactical emergency medical services: an emerging subspecialty of emergency medicine

Law enforcement agencies are recognizing the need to have emergency medical care available at the scene of any incident involving tactical operations. The potentially volatile and dangerous atmosphere surrounding tactical operations is conducive to severe injury to officers, hostages, suspects, and bystanders. This mandates the immediate availability of basic and advanced life support services. However, a purely traditional approach to emergency medical services in the tactical environment may not be feasible and may expose prehospital personnel to greater danger. It also may disrupt the law enforcement mission. These factors mandate a different set of field assessment and treatment priorities. To meet these needs, selected prehospital personnel and emergency physicians train to work with and support special weapons and tactics teams.

[Eye trauma in southern Africa]

The population of southern Africa living in South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique is 50 million. Because of intertribal hostility, the particular family structure, and the widespread use of alcohol and cannabinoid drugs, violence is very common. Trauma results mainly from "cold" weapons, which are an essential part of the traditional accoutrements of the African male. 202 patients (31.86% of those who underwent eye surgery in 2 years) needed surgery for severe ocular trauma in Mbabane, Swaziland. In a similar period, 100 patients (19.49%) required similar surgery in Boksburg, South Africa.

Memory of Northern Irish Catholics and Protestants for violent incidents and their explanations for the 1981 hunger strike

The aim of this study was to examine the memory of Northern Irish Catholics (n = 20) and Protestants (n = 21) for violent events which had occurred over the previous 11 years and their explanations for those events. It was predicted that Catholics would recall more events involving Catholic deaths than Protestants and that Protestants would recall more events involving Protestant deaths than Catholics. Although Catholics were as likely as Protestants to recall incidents which resulted in Protestant deaths, Protestants were less likely than Catholics to recall incidents involving Catholic deaths. Also, there were divergent explanations for the 1981 hunger strike with most Protestants attributing responsibility to factors internal to the hunger strikers and most Catholics attributing responsibility to factors external to the hunger strikers.

Social explanations and self-esteem in Northern Ireland

The relationship between group-serving attributional biases and self-esteem among Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland was examined. There was little evidence of any consistently positive association between these variables. Differential patterns of group-serving biases were clearly evident. The Catholics demonstrated more pronounced levels of bias, whereas the Protestants tended to be more selective about the dimensions on which they displayed discrimination. These differential patterns of bias were consistent with each group's relative status position.

Re-examination of recent trends in under five mortality rates in Zimbabwe: evidence from the ZDHS, 1988

Prior studies on infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe have questioned the low mortality found in Matabaleland South. It was suspected that it could be an artefact of data. Using the ZDHS data, this study has shown that the probability of dying before age five (q(5)) is indeed low in Matabeleland South. Also while all provinces experienced a temporary rise in mortality in the 1980's that of Matabeleland was experienced over the period 1980-82, a period marked by political turmoil. In the mid 1980's when things had normalised, mortality in Matabeleland South experienced a decline while other provinces experienced a temporary rise in q(5).

Providing home care during civil unrest

The Visiting Nurse Association of Los Angeles responded to the possibility of civil unrest during the Rodney King trial by drafting a plan for disaster readiness. Both management and staff worked together to prepare the agency for the continuation of services during civil unrest or other possible disasters.

Firestorm. The Waco tragedy

When the Feds stormed Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh's Waco compound in April after a 51-day stalemate, EMTs were prepared for the worst--and that's what they got.