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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2016; 06(02): 54-59
DOI: 10.4103/2231-0770.179554
BRIEF REPORT

The role of war trauma survivors in managing their own mental conditions, Syria civil war as an example

Nadim Almoshmosh
Consultant Psychiatrist, Global Medics, London, UK
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

War trauma leads to a wide range of psychological consequences and disorders that can be quite disabling to individuals and their families. At times of war, existing resources become strained to cope with all demands of trauma sufferers. The survivors' role of managing their own mental conditions becomes highly important and relevant as a way of reducing the resulted suffering. Unfortunately, this role is often ignored or trivialized by all concerned. The self-efficacy and resilience of people are the factors not to be underestimated and should be built upon. Reaching solutions are generally more satisfying and long-lasting when the affected person has taken a positive active part in finding them. Encouraging the use of own resources and experiences and using own problem-solving skills can be all that is needed for survivors to feel enabled. Engaging survivors and focusing on promoting recovery and social inclusion along with the use of self-help skills make them feel more positive about their own conditions. Being more involved, taking even small steps reduces the development of learned helplessness and reduces the psychiatric morbidities.

Keywords

Posttraumatic stress disorder - recovery - resilience - self-efficacy - trauma survivors


Publication History

Article published online:
09 August 2021

© 2016. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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