Trauma in military and civilian settings

Trauma exposure and posttraumatic reactions in a community sample of Bedouin members of the Israel Defense Forces

“…The rate of PTSD in our sample (nearly 20% of the trauma-exposed group) is higher than what was reported for trauma-exposed men in US-based epidemiological surveys [22] or the rate of 8% found among those exposed to war trauma from a general population sample in Israel [21] or the rate among 983 Israeli university students, where 67% were exposed to at least one traumatic event but only 6% had PTSD. [23] Indeed, albeit the recruitment method employed, participants in our study resemble groups at risk rather than community samples; examples include Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip where PTSD rates were 17.8% in the total group and 28% among those exposed to armed-conflict-associated violence; [24] peacekeeping forces, where rates ranged from 3% [25] to 16%; [26] and Ethiopian refugees resettled in Israel where the PTSD rate was 15.8%.…”

“…Of the 75% of our sample who were enlisted in combat units, more than 80% experienced war-type trauma, reflecting the intense and perilous nature of what has become in recent years routine engagements for these forces. [21] It is thus not surprising that a longer duration of service was positively associated with the likelihood for PTSD, suggestive of repeated exposure to multiple traumatic events.…”

Coping with life-threatening events was associated with better self-perceived health in a naval cross-sectional study

“…This may be due to sufficient training, enhancing taskfocused coping [50], or it might be a result of a better followup of active military personnel [51]. Also, healthy worker selection might have some importance as military personnel must have a health certificate [52].…”

Eating for numbing: a community-based study of trauma exposure, emotion dysregulation, dissociation, body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms

“…This surprisingly large proportion can be explained by the fact that two or three years of military service is compulsory for the participants, who were young Israeli adults, many of whom had experienced combat. Beyond the idea of “national trauma” ( Friedman-Peleg & Bilu, 2011 ) in a military sense, perpetual security concerns with repeated flare ups tend to make civilian life more stressful and trauma exposure of all kinds more likely ( Ben-Ya’acov et al, 2005 ; Palmieri et al, 2008 ; Almogy, Kedar & Bala, 2016 ).…”