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Adolescent survivors of "ethnic cleansing": observations on the first year in America
S Weine1, D F Becker, T H McGlashan
1Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Objective:
To describe the psychiatric assessments and trauma testimonies of 12 Bosnian adolescents newly resettled in America.
Method:
Twelve Bosnian adolescents who experienced the massive psychic trauma of "ethnic cleansing" were assessed during the first year after their resettlement in the United States. Assessments consisted of systematic, trauma-focused, clinical interviews that included standard assessment scales of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, as well as the opportunity to give testimony about their experiences.
Results:
PTSD was diagnosed in 25% of subjects and depressive disorders in 17%. Reexperiencing cluster symptoms were present in 50%, avoidance cluster symptoms in 31%, and hyperarousal cluster symptoms in 29%.
Conclusions:
The relatively low rate of PTSD in this sample (in comparison with adult survivors of "ethnic cleansing" and with Cambodian adolescent survivors) may be attributable to normal prior development, time-limited adversity, lack of physical or sexual traumas, rejoining nuclear families, or insufficient time for the development of delayed-onset PTSD. It may also be a reflection of the resiliency of adolescence.