Developmental Psychology

Aspects of Traumatic Effects Following the

1975 Lebanese Civil War on Christians in Lebanon    

and their Transmission Across Generations

Pierre Khazen 15/01/07

Assumed Effects Following the Civil War and Related Investigations:

? The survivors of the war could raise families and become successful in different dimensions.

? The war survivors did not develop severe psychological psychopathology.

? The civil war led to cases where many survivors face different disorders such chronic anxiety and depression.

? If clinical case-studies are used as a method to investigate the issue then there is a possibility that the reports may have investigated most unsuccessful survivors to restore their life after the war.

? Although Lebanese civil war survivors may have managed to rebuild their life after the war, they are still very vulnerable for future crisis.

? The Lebanese war survivors as a result of extreme circumstances may have developed long-term disorders but not all of them are of such risk. The connection between extreme life events such as the post-traumatic stress disorder is not deterministic all the time.

Effects Following the War on its Veterans:

Veterans of the Lebanese civil war such those of the Phalange may have apparently  overcome their traumatic experiences but stayed vulnerable to crisis in the future and in severe cases, they may reactivate sharp stress responses after they are exposed to stimuli that reminds them of the traumatic experience.

One can argue that sharp emotional distress after the war and transmission of such problems over generations may occur, others may suggest that subjects may not suffer sharp psychopathology.

A study about effects of the war on Israeli soldiers has learned that there was a high degree of war reactions two or three years after it. It also learned that second generation to the holocaust in comparison to others without such background showed those reactions in a higher degree. It also learned that the second generation to the holocaust recovered more slowly than the other group.

A paragraph related to the issue was found in Shimon Peres biography stating: 'When Peres patrolled in Lebanon, he met his son Chemi; a helicopters pilot who came from Damour, a city that became one of the main PLO-Syrian bases in Lebanon; 'the destruction of Damour is horrifying' Peres noted his son in writing 'and each flight heading there does some thing to our younger generation'.       

Trauma and its Effect on Attachment:

Turn to effects of loss or trauma on infant-mother attachment with regard to the Lebanese civil war survivors would show unresolved mourning /unresolved trauma. The unresolved mourning or trauma over a close attachment figure would lead to disorganized infant-mother relationships. Lack of resolution of mourning/trauma is presented by parental fear that leads a parent to be perceived by his/her child as  frightened or frightening the child; both cases could lead to disorganized behavior in infants.

The Lebanese civil war consisted the traumatic loss of important others as well as traumatic experiences including death, extreme violation of norms and values, the waking up from delusional thoughts. Beyond this, many of the survivors experienced additional stage of mourning after the war. The killing did not stop but formally, the war is over.

An element which sharpened the survivors difficulties was their emotional condition; circumstances where mourning occurred were not always usual: many cases revealed non-suitability between the occurrence of the death itself and the time when they were informed about it. When there is such gap, a delay in process of mourning may have occurred. Many survivors did not know the exact date, location of death and burial of their beloved stay unknown. Usually, the separation happened after the children witnessed a regressive process in their parents who were unable to give economic security, physical protection, or psychological support prior, during or after the massacres that the Lebanese Christians had to experience. The children had to see their parents helpless, unable to protect them and see them murdered. Left by a close attachment figure, feelings of anger may have arisen even if the factor for such separation was death. The survivors may have difficulties in showing their anger because of the cruel circumstances in which this death occurred but the concern is of unresolved mourning being unfinished.

Loss of Individualism Following the Massacres:

Another aspect that may be relevant in this context is the issue of loss of individualism following the massacres. The Christian parents may show sufficient emotional support towards their children, and the children may feel that they are receiving sufficient emotional support but individualism may be hard to achieve in the case of children of survivors and separation would be a problem in the family life. The parents are preoccupied with the enormous loss during the war and are working on unifying the family, a thing that would delay separation, independence and individualism in the children's life. The generation after the war is probably unaware and not updated with regard to the horrors of the war a thing that could be referred to as 'a plan of quietness'; the parents may be overprotective and the children may have to play the role of parenting. The children may feel more responsible for their mothers and their parents need their emotional support.

There is no question about the effects of the war on children of the survivors but I have to phrase this carefully as it could be possible that this lack of individualism in children of survivors may be due to the Lebanese culture and not necessarily effects of the war. 

Case-Study:                                 

A case-study based on biography of a survivor of the war named Natalie that shows preoccupation and trauma following the war. The interview exposes the difficulty in disconnecting her recent life from past experiences. Version of the story is dual, one a war survivor and the second is citizen of Brazil, her new adopted culture after immigration at the end of the war. Natalie was born in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut and was 5 when the war erupted. Her brother was killed during the war she explains 'it was at the beginning of the war when my brother was killed, he used to work in Syria and on Christmas he called and said he is coming home'. she was speaking as if she was experiencing the war again 'my mother told him not to come because of the situation but he insisted on spending Christmas with us' she did not hide her agitation 'after some time had passed and we still did not hear from him, a man came and told us that he was killed by soldiers at a check point' she was speaking collectively although she was 5 years old then 'he told us about the place he was killed and when we arrived, we saw soldiers' I asked for their identity 'I don't know, they had their face covered, maybe Palestinians or Syrians'. She describes the scene 'we were very scared so they laughed and let us take the body' I asked how he was killed 'his body was shot down several times, he had a Phalange card but he did not participate in the war' it seems that she can not decide whether he was a victim or a soldier because of cognitive-emotional confusion, she had difficulty in combining the two versions into one story because of contrast essence.

Generation that was Born after the War:

Children of the war survivors who were born after the war may suffer from 'Plan of Quietness' which means: the disability of the parents to speak about their traumatic experiences and hesitance of the children to ask about these experiences out of worry that it would trigger painful memories. It is understandable that this disability derives from the severe traumatic experience that the parents had to go through during the war and because the parents do not want to burden their children with horrific experiences from the point of view that they want them to be happy and free of agony.

This quietness cannot be complete because there could be other members of the family who were willing to speak about the traumatic experiences the child's parents had to face. This tiny information that the child may receive, could have huge impact on him just because he does not get the whole picture and the rest is left to his imagination.

Survivors were reported as suffer from nightmares (Natalie speaks about nightmares which her mother suffers from each night where she hears her screaming).

Other possible symptoms may be psychotic episodes, the need of psychiatric treatment, a thing that would make the children pursue the role of parenting and call emergency under frightening circumstances.

The traumatic experiences of the war may have caused behavior of exaggerated fear of danger a thing that may lead offspring perceive such messages as frightened parents or frightening instead of a parent who provides security and relaxation.

The children may have to face feeling of guilt because their parents are working hard to support them and grant them happy future while they did not have to experience such horrors. The children may imagine those who died for their existence and prevent themselves happiness assuming that they do not deserve the right to live more than them.                             

This article is based on psychological literature and an interview with a Lebanese Christian survivor of the 1975 civil war. 

This article is dedicated to the memory of Pierre A. Gemayel