Bulletin: Military and Soldiers

Articles

• Ben-Shalom, Uzi, and Yizhaq Benbenisty. “Coping Styles and Combat Motivation During Operations. An IDF Case Study.” Armed Forces and Society 42.4 (2016): 655-74.
• Lebel, Udi. “The ‘Immunized Integration’ of Religious-Zionists within Israeli Society: The Pre-Military Academy as an Institutional Model.” Social Identities 22.6 (2016): 642-60.
• Lomsky-Feder, Edna, and Orna Sasson-Levy. “The Effects of Military Service on Women’s Lives from the Narrative Perspective.” In Researching the Military (Cass Military Studies; ed. Helena Carrieras, Celso Castro, and Sabina Frederic; Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2016): 94ff.
• Rosman, Elisheva. “Toward a Classification of Managing Religious Diversity in the Ranks. The Case of the Turkish and Israeli Armed Forces.” Armed Forces and Society 42.4 (2016): 675-95.
• Shelef, Leah, Evyatar Ayzen, Nirit Yavnai, Eyal Fruchter, and Orly Sarid. “The Contribution of the Socio-Demographic Characteristics on Suicidal Ideation among Israeli Soldiers.” Disaster and Military Medicine 2.5 (2016).
• Simonetti, Ilaria. “Women’s Violence and Gender Relations in the Israeli Defence Forces.” In Gender and Conflict: Embodiments, Discourses and Symbolic Practices (ed. Georg Frerks, Annelou Ypeij, and Reinhilde Sotiria König; London and New York: Routledge, 2016): 67-90.

New Article: Zerach et al, The Role of Fathers’ Psychopathology in the Intergenerational Transmission of Captivity Trauma

Zerach, Gadi, Yaniv Kanat-Maymon, Roy Aloni, and Zahava Solomon. “The Role of Fathers’ Psychopathology in the Intergenerational Transmission of Captivity Trauma: A Twenty Three-Year Longitudinal Study.” Journal of Affective Disorders 190 (2016): 84-92.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2015.09.072

 

Abstract

Background

The aversive impact of combat and parents’ combat-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on young children has been examined in a few studies. However, the long-term toll of war captivity on the secondary traumatization (ST) of adult offspring remains unknown. This study aimed to assess the longitudinal associations between former prisoners of war (ex-POWs), PTSD, depressive symptoms and their adult offsprings ST.

Method

A sample of 134 Israeli father-child dyads (80 ex-POWs dyads and a comparison group of 44 veterans’dyads) completed self-report measures. The fathers participated in three waves of measurements following the Yom Kippur War (T1: 1991, T2: 2003, and T3: 2008), while the offspring took part in T4 (2013).

Results

Offspring of ex-POWs with PTSD at T3 reported more ST symptoms than offspring of ex-POWs without PTSD and controls. Ex-POWs’ PTSD hyper-arousal symptom cluster at T3 was positively related to offsprings ST avoidance symptom cluster. Offspring of ex-POWs with chronic and delayed PTSD trajectories reported more ST symptoms than offspring of ex-POWS and controls with resilient trajectories. Ex-POWs’ PTSD and depression symptoms at T1, T2 and T3 mediated the link between war captivity (groups) and offsprings ST in T4.

Limitations

The use of self-report measures that did not cover the entire span of 40 years since the war, might may bias the results.

Conclusions

The intergenerational transmission of captivity related trauma following the Yom Kippur War was exemplified. ST symptoms among ex-POWs’ adult offspring are closely related to their father’ PTSD and related depressive symptom comorbidity.

 

 

 

Lecture: Keynan, Psychological War Trauma and Society (NYU, Oct 14, 2015)

New Article: Garyn-Tal & Shahrabani, Type of Army Service and Risky Behavior among Young People in Israel

Garyn-Tal, Sharon and Shosh Shahrabani. “Type of Army Service and Decision to Engage in Risky Behavior among Young People in Israel.” Judgment and Decision Making 10.4 (2015): 342-54.

 

URL: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~baron/journal/15/15320a/jdm15320a.pdf [pdf]

 

Abstract

Previous studies have examined the impact of military service on the decision to engage in risky behavior. Yet most of these studies focused on voluntary recruits, did not distinguish between legal and illegal risky activities and did not compare combat and non-combat soldiers during and after service according to gender. The current study is unique because of the nature of Israeli compulsory army service. It examines the relationship between type of army service and five legal and illegal risky behaviors for three groups: non-combat, combat without fighting experience, and combat with fighting experience. We also examine differences in the propensity for risky behavior between men, most of whom are assigned to combat units due to the army’s needs, and women, who serve in combat units on a voluntary basis only. A questionnaire survey was randomly distributed at train stations and central bus stations in Israel among 413 soldiers and ex-soldiers between the ages of 18-30. The predictor variables include type of service or battle experience, the Evaluation of Risks scale and sociodemographic characteristics. In general, we found that high percentages of young people engage in risky behavior, especially illegal behavior. The results indicate that fighting experience is significantly and positively correlated with the consumption of illegal substances for currently serving men soldiers (but not for women) and this effect is mitigated after discharge from the army. Importantly, the use of illegal substances is not a result of the individual’s preferences for engaging in various risky behaviors. Thus, our results suggest that the effect of the increased propensity toward risky behavior following the experience of fighting overrides the combat unit’s discipline for men when it comes to the consumption of illegal substances. In addition, our findings indicate that serving in a combat unit as opposed to a non-combat unit affects the tendency of women ex-combat soldiers to travel to risky destinations, though this is probably related to their original higher risk attitude, since women must volunteer for combat units.

New Article: Stein and Tuval-Mashiach, Loneliness of Israeli Veterans of Combat and Captivity

Stein, Jacob Y., and Rivka Tuval-Mashiach. “Loneliness and Isolation in Life-Stories of Israeli Veterans of Combat and Captivity.” Psychological Trauma 7.2 (2015): 122-30.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036936

 

Abstract

Loneliness holds detrimental ramifications for health and well-being. Nevertheless, loneliness references in the literature addressing combat-related trauma are few. Consequentially, the qualities and characteristics of such experiences in these posttraumatic realities remain uninvestigated empirically. In the current qualitative study we began filling this gap in the literature. We utilized thematic content analysis of life-stories of 19 combat veterans and 7 ex-POWs that have given testimony at the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War (NATAL). Our findings suggest that the loneliness in the contexts at hand is primarily characterized by a sense of experiential isolation, rather than social, emotional, or existential. This is the sensation that due to the extraordinary nature of traumatic experiences the fulfillment of needs such as empathy and intersubjectivity may be unattainable. Integrating our findings with existing interdisciplinary literature regarding social sharing, trauma, and loneliness, we discuss implications for clinical interventions and further research.

New Article: Hirsch et al, Home Attachment and Coherence in Times of War: Perspectives of Jewish Israeli Mothers

Hirsch, Tal Litvak, Orna Braun-Lewensohn, and Alon Lazar. “Does Home Attachment Contribute to Strengthen Sense of Coherence in Times of War? Perspectives of Jewish Israeli Mothers.” Women & Health 55.4 (2015): 467-83.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2015.1022688

 

Abtract

The perceptions of home, the significance attached to the home, and the reasons for the decision to continue living at home despite past and potentially future threats were investigated among Jewish Israeli mothers whose homes were exposed to long-term rocket attacks. Findings showed that the mothers expressed a firm attachment to their homes and to their physical and social surroundings and indicated that home attachment, in terms of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors connected to home, contributed to the strengthening of their sense of coherence due to the comprehension, management, and the meaning that they accorded the situation. These components of sense of coherence served as assets and coping resources that helped the women handle their stressful situations.

New Book: Safir et al., Future Directions in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Safir, Marilyn P., Helene S. Wallach, and Albert Rizzo, eds. Future Directions in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment. New York: Springer, 2015.

 

 

Ours is an era of increasing tension, both global and local. And not surprisingly, PTSD is recognized not only in combat veterans and active military personnel, but also disaster and assault survivors across the demographic spectrum. As current events from mass shootings to the debate over trigger warnings keep the issue in the public eye, the disorder remains a steady concern among researchers and practitioners.

Future Directions in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder presents findings and ideas with the potential to influence both our conceptualization of the condition and the techniques used to address it. A multidisciplinary panel of experts offers new analyses of risk and resilience factors, individual and group approaches to prevention, the evolving process of diagnosis, and effective treatment and delivery. Chapters on treatment allow readers to compare widely-used prolonged exposure and VR methods with innovative applications of cognitive processing therapy and interpersonal therapy. And an especially compelling contribution surveys empirically-based programs relating to what for many is the emblematic trauma of our time, the events of September 11, 2001. Included in the coverage:

• Predictors of vulnerability to PTSD: neurobiological and genetic risk factors.
• Early intervention: is prevention better than cure?
• The functional neuroanatomy of PTSD.
• The development of evidence-based treatment for PTSD.
• Enhancing exposure therapy using D-Cycloserine (DCS).
• PLUS: a case example as seen through five therapeutic perspectives.

While millions experience trauma, relatively few develop chronic PTSD. Future Directions in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a practical and proactive reference for the health and clinical psychologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, and primary care physicians dedicated to further decreasing those numbers.

 

Table of contents

• Vulnerability to PTSD: Psychosocial and Demographic Risk and Resilience Factors

  Bar-Shai, Marina (et al.)

  Pages 3-30

• Neurobiological Risk Factors and Predictors of Vulnerability and Resilience to PTSD

  Bar-Shai, Marina (et al.)

  Pages 31-63

• The Early Adolescent or “Juvenile Stress” Translational Animal Model of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

  Richter-Levin, Gal (et al.)

  Pages 65-77

• An Attachment Perspective on Traumatic and Posttraumatic Reactions

  Mikulincer, Mario (et al.)

  Pages 79-96 

• Delayed-Onset PTSD in Israeli Combat Veterans: Correlates, Clinical Picture, and Controversy

  Horesh, Danny (et al.)

  Cutting Edge Research on Prevention of PTSD

  Kearns, Megan C. (et al.)

  Pages 133-153

• Systems of Care for Traumatized Children: The Example of a School-Based Intervention Model

  Brom, Danny (et al.)

  Pages 155-169

• Is Prevention Better than Cure? How Early Interventions Can Prevent PTSD

  Freedman, Sara A. (et al.)

  Pages 171-186

• Evolution of PTSD Diagnosis in the

  Echterling, Lennis G. (et al.)

  Pages 189-212

• Functional Neuroanatomy of PTSD: Developmental Cytoarchitectonic Trends, Memory Systems, and Control Processes

  Gilboa, Asaf

  Pages 213-241

• Prolonged Exposure Treatment

  Nacasch, Nitsa (et al.)

  Pages 245-251

• Cognitive Processing Therapy: Beyond the Basics

  Chard, Kathleen M. (et al.)

  Pages 253-262

• Interpersonal Psychotherapy for PTSD

  Rafaeli, Alexandra Klein (et al.)

  Pages 263-272

• Inclusion of Virtual Reality: A Rationale for the Use of VR in the Treatment of PTSD

  García-Palacios, Azucena (et al.)

  Pages 275-287

  
  

• Initial Development and Dissemination of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Combat-Related PTSD

  Reger, Greg M. (et al.)

  Pages 289-302

• Update and Expansion of the Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan PTSD Exposure Therapy System

  Rizzo, Albert (et al.)

  Pages 303-328

• Mental Health Problems and Treatment Utilization of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Enrolled in Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care

  Seal, Karen H. (et al.)

  Pages 329-345

• Enhancing Exposure Therapy for PTSD Using

  Burton, Mark S. (et al.)

  Pages 347-365

• Implementation of Evidence-Based Assessment, Treatment, and Research Programs Following the World Trade Center Disaster on September 11, 2001

  Olden, Megan (et al.)

  Pages 367-387

• Case Presentation of a Chronic Combat PTSD Veteran

  Nacasch, Nitsa (et al.)

  Pages 391-409

• Matching Treatment to Patients Suffering from PTSD: What We Know and Especially What We Don’t Know

  Wallach, Helene S.

  Pages 411-415

• Erratum to: Case Presentation of a Chronic Combat PTSD Veteran

 

ToC: Israel Affairs 18,4 (2012)

Israel Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 4, 01 Oct 2012 is now available on Taylor & Francis Online. — This new issue contains the following articles: — Original Articles — Existential threats to Israel: learning from the ancient past Steven R. David Pages: 503-525 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717386 — Leadership, preventive war and territorial expansion: David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol Shlomo Aronson Pages: 526-545 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717387 — ‘Two & three air raids daily. What a bother’: an American diplomat in Israel during the War of Independence Henry D. Fetter Pages: 546-562 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717388 — The failed Palestinian–Israeli peace process 1993–2011: an Israeli perspective Raphael Cohen-Almagor Pages: 563-576 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717389 — The birth of the core issues: the West Bank and East Jerusalem under Israeli administration 1967–76 (part 1) Moshe Elad Pages: 577-595 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717390 — The social representation of incapacity: a psycho-cultural analysis of Israel’s political arena Mira Moshe Pages: 596-614 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717391 — The advent of Israel’s commercial lobby Hila Tal Pages: 615-628 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717392 — The games must go on? The influence of terror attacks on hosting sporting events in Israel Yair Galily, Ilan Tamir & Moshe Levy Pages: 629-644 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717393 — Combat stress reactions during the 1948 war: a conspiracy of silence? Eldad Rom & Dan Bar-On Pages: 645-651 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717394 — The US, Hezbollah and the idea of sub-state terrorism Hussain Sirriyeh Pages: 652-662 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.717395 — Book Reviews — India’s Israel policy David Rodman Pages: 663-665 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718493 — The West and the Middle East David Rodman Pages: 665-666 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718494 — Nation and history: Israeli historiography between Zionism and post-Zionism David Rodman Pages: 666-667 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718495 — Israeli statecraft: national security challenges and responses David Rodman Pages: 667-668 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718496 — Confidential: the life of secret agent turned Hollywood tycoon Arnon Milchan David Rodman Pages: 669-669 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718497 — The anatomy of Israel’s survival David Rodman Pages: 669-670 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718498 — Perspectives of psychological operations (PSYOP) in contemporary conflicts: essays in winning hearts and minds David Rodman Pages: 670-671 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718499 — Holy wars: 3000 years of battles in the holy land David Rodman Pages: 671-671 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718500 — Crossroads: the future of the U.S.–Israel strategic partnership David Rodman Pages: 671-673 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718501 — Israel’s national security law: political dynamics and historical development David Rodman Pages: 673-674 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2012.718502