Minefields in Their Hearts: The Mental Health of Children in War and Communal Violence

About this book

The Holocaust civil war in Bosnia drug wars in the cities random violence in schools streets and homessuch events and their aftermath pose special problems for mental health professionals educators and others who must help children make sense of acts that endanger them physically and psychically. In this book edited by Drs. Roberta J. Apfel and Bennett Simon mental health professionals share their knowledge experiences and hopefulness in working with children exposed to war and violence. The result is a moving history of young lives affected by war persecution and communal violence and an invaluable resource for anyone working with children subjected to such traumas. The contributors to this bookwho include psychiatrists psychologists and social workers all with direct experience working with children who are victims of war and violenceaddress the ethics involved in working with children in war zones childrens development under circumstances of war or violence post-traumatic stress disorder and other stress reactions refugee children "survivor guilt " interventions and treatments and the emotional health of the caretakers. The book includes case studies on children of war in Kuwait on a program involving children of Holocaust survivors and children of Nazi perpetrators and on the Child Development-Community Policing Program in New Haven.