Emotional and behavioural problems and trauma exposure of school-age Palestinian children in Gaza: some preliminary findings.

An international research team was established to design and implement a community-based, cross-section epidemiological survey of 669 school-age Palestinian children and their families living in the Gaza Strip. Several psychometric instruments were utilized for measuring mental health outcomes, including the Ontario Child Health Scale (OCHS) for measuring childhood emotional and behavioural problems, and the Child Post-traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTSRI) to measure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Lifetime trauma exposure was assessed by using the Health Reach Modified War Questionnaire.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in hostages and victims of torture.

Torture and the taking of hostages for ransom or for political gain have existed since recorded history. Both can produce archetype post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Many symptoms, as in the case of those brought on by the Holocaust, can last a lifetime.

Assessment and treatment of torture victims: a critical review.

This paper presents the main issues in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric sequelae in torture victims. The concept of post traumatic stress disorder is used to organize literature on psychiatric casualties resulting from massive psychic trauma, e.g.

Women as torture victims.

This paper reports a retrospective study of the frequency, severity, modalities and mental health consequences of torture in 28 Latin American refugee women in Toronto. The data on these women and a comparison group of male torture victims were retrieved from case records in a hospital outpatient clinic. The results support the hypotheses implicit in the scanty literature available that the frequency and effects of torture in women differ from those found in men.