The symptoms of this form of trauma are not in essence different. All the elements of post-traumatic stress disorder manifest themselves. Victims of Armed Conflict Of all the horrors that humankind is heir to, war is arguably the worst. It is invariably man-made, and therefore should be avoidable. A multitude of wars of every description are being waged all over the globe at present.
Children are the innocent victims of bilateral, multilateral, civil, guerrilla and ethnic warfare.
It is self-evident that the physical survival of children must have absolute priority. Yet a great deal of attention needs to be given to the emotional well being of these children in order to avoid the many appalling psychological problems they face as well as in order to break the spiral of violence that festering emotional wounds are known to cause from one generation to the next. In the climate of violence and fear wars bring about, some families manage to protect their children from the worst emotional damage that war causes. Many, if not most, however, are physically incapable of doing so. Or they are so overwhelmed by events that they are themselves in dire need of care and protection.