Contemporary treatments for psychological trauma from the perspective of peacekeepers.

Abstract

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to examine contemporary treatment approaches for psychological trauma from the perspective ofpeacekeepers. Data were collected via audiotaped interviews with 10 contemporary peacekeepers who had been deployed to Somalia, Rwanda, or the formerYugoslavia. The participants were asked to describe their experience with various treatments for psychological trauma. Narratives from the transcribed interviews were reviewed with the participants and their comments solicited for rigour and verification of meaning. A thematic analysis of the text, conducted to examine the ways in which contemporary treatment approaches help peacekeepers to heal from trauma, revealed 3 themes: medications as helping the most, understanding what is going on, and self-healing as a journey of discovery. The embodied nature of healing from trauma among contemporary peacekeepers should not be overlooked. Studies on the efficacy of different treatment modalities for psychological trauma, including mind-body complementary therapies, are needed.

• Authors: Susan L Ray
• Journal: The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmieres (Can J Nurs Res) Vol. 41 Issue 2 Pg. 115-28 (Jun 2009) ISSN: 0844-5621 [Print] United States
• PMID: 19650517 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Anti-Anxiety Agents

Topics

• Adaptation, Psychological
• Adult
• Anti-Anxiety Agents (adverse effects, therapeutic use)
• Attitude to Health (ethnology)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Complementary Therapies (methods)
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Military Personnel (psychology)
• Military Psychiatry (methods)
• Nursing Methodology Research
• Ontario (ethnology)
• Patient Education as Topic
• Rwanda
• Self Care (methods, psychology)
• Somalia
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic (ethnology, prevention & control)
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Treatment Outcome
• Yugoslavia