A Family Survives Genocide

Abstract

This is a case study of a family that survived genocide and a discussion of families and massive psychic trauma. This family, like many others from Bosnia-Herzegovina, was driven from their home by Serb forces-"ethnically cleansed"-then eventually escaped to Croatia, and was later resettled in the United States. They were referred to us, a group of mental health professionals who established the Bosnian Refugee Trauma Program at the Yale Psychiatric Institute (YPI). We have done clinical, testimony, and research work with the refugee families from Bosnia who resettled in our region, described in part in prior reports (Weine, Becker et al. 1995a, 1995b; Weine and Laub 1995).

Effects of posttraumatic stress and acculturation on marital functioning in Bosnian refugee couples

“…Couples' communication distress (Problem Solving Communication and Affective Communication) showed the strongest correlations with PTSD. This finding corroborates case study observations by Weine, Vojvoda, Hartman, and Hyman (1997) who reported that traumatic experiences were rarely shared or discussed within a survivor family. Family members, each with his or her own trauma, often become isolated from one another, which can result in both communication breakdown and marital distress.…”

Family Consequences of Refugee Trauma

“…We observed that family members tend to perceive the consequences of political violence through a family lens (Weine, Vojvoda, Hartman, & Hyman, 1997). This is not surprising given that family is at the center of Bosnian culture (Bringa, 1995; Weine, 1999).…”

The familial influence of loss and trauma on refugee mental health: A multilevel path analysis

“…In circumstances of systematic persecution, it is common that entire families will be exposed to similar traumatic events and losses (Momartin et al, 2004; Schweitzer, Melville, Steel, & Lacharez, 2006). These experiences, in the context of the breakdown of social institutions that facilitate coping, may disrupt family and social networks (Weine, Vojvoda, Hartman, & Hyman, 1997). Research conducted with Western populations has attested to the impact of trauma and loss on family relationships (Brende & Goldsmith, 1991; Carroll, Foy, Cannon, & Zwier, 1991), and accordingly family‐level interventions have been designed to improve psychological symptoms and access to services for refugees (Weine et al, 2006; Weine et al, 2008).…”