Post-traumatic stress disorder in Kuwait :: Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD

REPAIRING A NATION POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER IN KUWAIT THESIS: Studies made by experts found after the liberation of Kuwait following the Gulf War of 1991 that most children who were inside the country experienced undesirable emotions simultaneously which brought out more abnormal behaviors. INTRODUCTION In the oppressively hot summer of 1990 the second of August to be exact, people were sleeping peacefully in their homes. It was a Thursday morning and most Kuwaitis had left the country on holiday. No one ever suspected or believed that a neighboring country of the same religion would invade such a small innocent country. Most of the Kuwaiti citizens who were inside the country or outside were in shock. This Iraqi occupation that Kuwait suffered for seven months was dramatically experienced by both adults and children. They were exposed to such brutal atrocities as executing anyone who had a typewriter or a camera so that no one in the outside world would know how indecently they were treating a neighboring country. Plus any interference in Sadaam's military actions resulted in hundreds of patriots who fought bravely for the freedom of their country. The Iraqi soldiers tried to terrorize the Kuwaiti people by subjecting them to different types of torture techniques like raping virgin females and mothers in front of their children. Rape was practiced not only on females but young males too. Many Kuwaiti civilian men, women and children were taken from their homes and never returned to their families. There are still 625 Kuwaiti hostages in Iraq. This number means much to a small community where every family is related to a POW. The people who suffered less are those who lost their homes, money and other valuables. All those terrors of war have now caused what is called Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Second International Conference, Mental Health in the State of Kuwait). People suffered from this brutal and fateful period when the country was under occupation, either by being forced to start over from scratch or by working in a new job, building a new house. Many people fell into poverty. Also the thought that their country no longer existed during the invasion had a very difficult mental effect on the people. They could not believe the reality that their country was being occupied. This idea was especially traumatic for older people. The behaviors and emotions of Kuwaitis under such war-like circumstances are not new to psychology.