Surviving the war zone experience: preventing psychiatric casualties

This paper describes a conceptual framework for the development and evaluation of stress-prevention programs for military personnel. In recognition of the diversity of stressors present within a war zone, we propose that an effective prevention program must operate on two levels if it is to deal with the effects of war zone exposure. Prevention programs must target (1) the occupational and/or traumatic stressor(s) within the war zone and (2) the ensuing post-exposure behaviors. A case study is presented to illustrate some of the key prevention issues for military personnel.