Scud

Abstract: Contents: L.A. Leavitt, N.A. Fox, Introduction. Part I:Overview. E. Goldson, War Is Not Good for Children. J. Garbarino, K. Kostelny, Children's Response to War: What Do We Know? D. Cicchetti, S.L. Toth, M. Lynch, The Developmental Sequelae of Child Maltreatment: Implications for War-Related Trauma. Part II:The Middle East Conflict: Its Effect on Children. A. Klingman, A. Sagi, A. Raviv, The Effect of War on Israeli Children. N. Shilo-Cohen, Israeli Children Paint War. C.W. Greenbaum, C. Erlich, Y.H. Toubiana, Settler Children and the Gulf War. S. Masalha, The Effect of Prewar Conditions on the Psychological Reactions of Palestinian Children to the Gulf War. N. Bat-Zion, R. Levy-Shiff, Children in War: Stress and Coping Reactions Under the Threat of Scud Missile Attacks and the Effect of Proximity. R.J. Apfel, B. Simon, On the Value of a Psychoanalytic Perspective in Research on Children in War: Group Interviews of Israeli and Palestinian Children During the Gulf War and 1 Year Later. K. Nader, R.S. Pynoos, The Children of Kuwait After the Gulf Crisis. Part III:International Perspectives on Children and Violence. C. Liddell, J. Kemp, M. Moema, The Young Lions: South African Children and Youth in Political Struggle. E. Cairns, I.J. Toner, Children and Political Violence in Northern Ireland: From Riots to Reconciliation. S. Goldberg, Violence at a Distance: Thinking About the Nuclear Threat. J.E. Richters, P. Martinez, Children as Victims of and Witnesses to Violence in a Washington, D.C. Neighborhood. Part IV:Perspectives on Intervention. S. Marans, D.J. Cohen, Children and Inner-City Violence: Strategies for Intervention. T. Field, Israeli Children in the Gulf War: Problems of Masks and Peer Separation. A. Raviv, The Use of Hotline and Media Interventions in Israel During the Gulf War. C.R. Figley, War-Related Stress and Family-Centered Intervention: American Children and the Gulf War.

Abstract: Objective. —To determine the proportion of hospitalized patients who had stress reactions as a result of missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War and evaluate the factors that influenced their evacuation. Design. —Review of medical records of patients hospitalized as a result of missile attacks. Setting. —During the Persian Gulf War in the winter of 1991, Israel received 18 missile attacks involving 39 surface-to-surface Scud missiles. The uncertainty in time, place, and type of warhead, conventional or chemical, was a source of chronic stress and the immediate cause for many traumatic stress reactions at or near the missile attack sites. Participants. —Data from victims who were injured after each missile attack were available through a central hookup between 12 local hospitals and the Medical Corps of the Israeli Defence Force. Main Outcome Measure. —The number of persons diagnosed in the hospital as psychological casualties after each missile attack. Results. —Approximately 43% of the 773 casualties evacuated to hospitals were diagnosed as psychological casualties, and an additional 27% had mistakenly injected themselves with atropine. Data also indicated that triage of psychological casualties to hospitals was more a function of the rescue team's training and preparation than the severity or extent of injury or damage. Conclusions. —Optimal treatment during events that cause mass casualties requires proper preparation of rescue teams as well as reorganization of the hospital's psychiatric services. The threat of chemical warfare affected the number and nature of stress reactions. (JAMA. 1992;268:613-615)

Abstract: We examined Israelis' reactions to the Gulf War and SCUD missile attacks. Four national samples of Israelis (n=3,204) were interviewed as to depressive mood on four occasions—prior to the Gulf Crisis, as the war approached, during the SCUD missile attacks, and after cessation of hostilities. There was an expected increase in depressive mood during the period of SCUD missile attacks and a quick return to base-line levels following the hostilities. Less educated and older individuals reported higher base-line levels of depressive mood and were at higher risk for clinical depression. Women and men did not differ in depressive mood before or after the SCUD missile attacks. However, women experienced a marked increase in depressive mood when the SCUD missile attacks occurred.