Wright, Lori

English

University of New Hampshire

University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository
Media Relations Administrative Offices
3-19-2012
UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New
Dimensions To War Trauma Book Sheds New
Light On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Its
Often Devastating Aftermath
Lori Wright
UNH Media Relations
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/news
This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has
been accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more
information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.
Recommended Citation
Wright, Lori, "UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions To War Trauma Book Sheds New Light On Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder And Its Often Devastating Aftermath" (2012). UNH Today. 3904.
https://scholars.unh.edu/news/3904
Media Relations Home | Calendar | UNH Home
Media Relations
UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions To 
War Trauma
Book Sheds New Light On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Its Often Devastating Aftermath
March 19, 2012 
DURHAM, N.H. – A new book by a 
University of New Hampshire researcher 
and Vietnam-era disabled veteran sheds 
new light on the long-term 
psychological trauma experienced by 
the coalition force in recent wars in the 
Gulf and Balkans that, when left 
untreated, can have deadly 
consequences.
In his new book “War Trauma and its 
Aftermath: An International Perspective 
on the Balkan and Gulf Wars” (University Press of America, 2012), Laurence French, senior research 
associate at UNH Justiceworks, and co-author Lidija Nikolic-Novakovic, a Balkan War survivor, detail how 
the Gulf and Balkan wars added new dimensions to the traditional definition of post-traumatic stress 
disorder, or PTSD, largely due to the changing dynamics of these wars. The research is so significant that 
the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo has added the book to its library.
Instead of looking at PTSD traditionally as it has been narrowly defined by the Veteran’s Administration –
requiring that a person be in a combat situation – French found that traumatic stress should be redefined 
as being on a continuum, with PTSD at the end of the continuum and applied to a wider range of military 
forces as well as civilians. 
This continuum begins with the inability to make an automatic adjustment to a new situation, which 
creates an adjustment disorder. Residual clinical issues remain if the adjustment disorder is not remedied 
and can lead to PTSD. There is no single cure for post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms include 
insidious depression, panic and anxiety disorders, and brief psychotic breaks. 
“By focusing on only a narrow definition of PTSD, the Veteran’s Administration was excluding a lot of 
people,” French says. “Unresolved traumatic stress, regardless of where it falls on the continuum, can 
result in suicide.”
War trauma has long been associated with PTSD, a term coined in 1980 to explain the post-war impact on 
Vietnam veterans. However, during the Gulf wars, rapid deployments, sexual assaults, and suicides 
surfaced as paramount untreated problems within the coalition force. 
These wars involved the unprecedented use of reserve and National Guard personnel in U.S. forces, along 
with the largest contingent of female military personnel to date. For many of these soldiers, they were 
unprepared psychologically for what they experienced, French says.
He explains that the Gulf and Balkan wars involved many soldiers who did not have a combat Military 
Occupational Specialty but who were repeatedly targeted by the enemy. National Guard troops trained to 
work with artillery supplies and transportation systems suddenly found themselves under constant attack 
by suicide bombers and roadside bombings, forcing them to be hyper vigilant for these attacks.
“These were the people who were targeted by the IEDs so you had this anticipation of ‘when am I going to 
get blown up’ or when will someone in the convoy get blown up. The body doesn’t recover from that 
because you have that constant hyper vigilance. And then with the rapid redeployment, they never have a 
chance to work this through,” French says. 
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In contrast, people in a clear combat situation would experience trauma similar to the victim of an 
earthquake or a single-event situation. French explains that these soldiers may experience acute stress 
disorder and have a better chance of recovering from it, thus avoiding the longer-term impact of PTSD.
“It is devastating, and they have to go through an adjustment, but it isn’t as devastating as this subtle 
process of never knowing what is going to happen. They never divorce themselves from that 
psychologically. That is the new dimensions of post-traumatic stress disorder,” French says. 
In addition, before the Gulf and Balkan wars, never before had soldier-on-soldier sexual harassment and 
sexual assault been so prevalent, French says, adding a new dimension to war trauma experienced 
primarily by women soldiers. “When the women complained about the sexual abuse, they were made to 
feel even worse than before. They experienced a silent treatment. This can lead to refractory depression, 
which the outcome can be suicide,” French says. 
With the Balkan War -- the worst war in Europe since World War II -- the people who experienced the 44-
month siege of Sarajevo and NATO bombing, indiscriminate killing of civilians, incarceration, torture, and 
rape never had a chance to recover from it, French says. 
“You have this unresolved trauma because they didn’t have the money for treatment,” French says. 
To make matters worse, the victims of the Balkan War now are experiencing secondary PTSD – the 
children of the people who never received treatment for PTSD are now taking on the symptoms of their 
parents and have to be hyper vigilant about the thousands of live landmines left behind, he says.
A sociologist, criminologist, and psychologist, French has worked with traumatic stress clients for more 
than 40 years. He previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1959 to 1965. He holds Ph.D.s in 
sociology (social disorganization/social psychology) from UNH and in cultural psychology (educational 
psychology and measurement) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a native of Suncook, N.H.
The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel 
of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship 
public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.
VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgUsLuRm1G4
Prof. Laurence French discusses the findings presented in his new book “War Trauma and its Aftermath: 
An International Perspective on the Balkan and Gulf Wars.”
PHOTO
http://www.unh.edu/news/img/french.JPG
UNH researcher Laurence French gives a talk on “PTSD in the Balkans” at the University of Tusla in Bosnia. 
French was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, from 2009 to 2010. 
GRAPHIC
http://www.unh.edu/news/img/yugoslavia.pdf
Map of the new boundaries of the former Yugoslavia. 
-30-
Broadcasters: Laurence French is available for interviews in the university's ReadyCam television studio. To schedule 
an interview, contact Lori Wright at 603-862-0574 or lori.wright@unh.edu, or Erika Mantz at 603-862-1567 or 
erika.mantz@unh.edu. Once an interview is confirmed with UNH, producers can call the VideoLink Operations Center at 
617-340-4300 to coordinate the shot.
Media Contact: Lori Wright | 603-862-0574 | UNH Media Relations 
Secondary Contact: Laurence French | 603-746-3240 | UNH Justiceworks 
T-hall
Copyright © 2012 UNH Media Relations, 15 Strafford Ave, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824.
UNH is part of the University System of New Hampshire.
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UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions To
War Trauma
Book Sheds New Light On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Its Often Devastating Aftermath

UNH Scholars' Repository

University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices3-19-2012UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add NewDimensions To War Trauma Book Sheds NewLight On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And ItsOften Devastating AftermathLori WrightUNH Media RelationsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationWright, Lori, "UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions To War Trauma Book Sheds New Light On Post-TraumaticStress Disorder And Its Often Devastating Aftermath" (2012). UNH Today. 3904.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/3904Media Relations Home | Calendar | UNH HomeMedia RelationsUNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions To War TraumaBook Sheds New Light On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Its Often Devastating AftermathMarch 19, 2012 DURHAM, N.H. – A new book by a University of New Hampshire researcher and Vietnam-era disabled veteran sheds new light on the long-term psychological trauma experienced by the coalition force in recent wars in the Gulf and Balkans that, when left untreated, can have deadly consequences.In his new book “War Trauma and its Aftermath: An International Perspective on the Balkan and Gulf Wars” (University Press of America, 2012), Laurence French, senior research associate at UNH Justiceworks, and co-author Lidija Nikolic-Novakovic, a Balkan War survivor, detail how the Gulf and Balkan wars added new dimensions to the traditional definition of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, largely due to the changing dynamics of these wars. The research is so significant that the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo has added the book to its library.Instead of looking at PTSD traditionally as it has been narrowly defined by the Veteran’s Administration –requiring that a person be in a combat situation – French found that traumatic stress should be redefined as being on a continuum, with PTSD at the end of the continuum and applied to a wider range of military forces as well as civilians. This continuum begins with the inability to make an automatic adjustment to a new situation, which creates an adjustment disorder. Residual clinical issues remain if the adjustment disorder is not remedied and can lead to PTSD. There is no single cure for post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms include insidious depression, panic and anxiety disorders, and brief psychotic breaks. “By focusing on only a narrow definition of PTSD, the Veteran’s Administration was excluding a lot of people,” French says. “Unresolved traumatic stress, regardless of where it falls on the continuum, can result in suicide.”War trauma has long been associated with PTSD, a term coined in 1980 to explain the post-war impact on Vietnam veterans. However, during the Gulf wars, rapid deployments, sexual assaults, and suicides surfaced as paramount untreated problems within the coalition force. These wars involved the unprecedented use of reserve and National Guard personnel in U.S. forces, along with the largest contingent of female military personnel to date. For many of these soldiers, they were unprepared psychologically for what they experienced, French says.He explains that the Gulf and Balkan wars involved many soldiers who did not have a combat Military Occupational Specialty but who were repeatedly targeted by the enemy. National Guard troops trained to work with artillery supplies and transportation systems suddenly found themselves under constant attack by suicide bombers and roadside bombings, forcing them to be hyper vigilant for these attacks.“These were the people who were targeted by the IEDs so you had this anticipation of ‘when am I going to get blown up’ or when will someone in the convoy get blown up. The body doesn’t recover from that because you have that constant hyper vigilance. And then with the rapid redeployment, they never have a chance to work this through,” French says. SHAREPrintEmailSubscribeTweet FacebookPage 1 of 3UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions to War Trauma1/31/2018http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2012/mar/lw19ptsd.cfm.htmlIn contrast, people in a clear combat situation would experience trauma similar to the victim of an earthquake or a single-event situation. French explains that these soldiers may experience acute stress disorder and have a better chance of recovering from it, thus avoiding the longer-term impact of PTSD.“It is devastating, and they have to go through an adjustment, but it isn’t as devastating as this subtle process of never knowing what is going to happen. They never divorce themselves from that psychologically. That is the new dimensions of post-traumatic stress disorder,” French says. In addition, before the Gulf and Balkan wars, never before had soldier-on-soldier sexual harassment and sexual assault been so prevalent, French says, adding a new dimension to war trauma experienced primarily by women soldiers. “When the women complained about the sexual abuse, they were made to feel even worse than before. They experienced a silent treatment. This can lead to refractory depression, which the outcome can be suicide,” French says. With the Balkan War -- the worst war in Europe since World War II -- the people who experienced the 44-month siege of Sarajevo and NATO bombing, indiscriminate killing of civilians, incarceration, torture, and rape never had a chance to recover from it, French says. “You have this unresolved trauma because they didn’t have the money for treatment,” French says. To make matters worse, the victims of the Balkan War now are experiencing secondary PTSD – the children of the people who never received treatment for PTSD are now taking on the symptoms of their parents and have to be hyper vigilant about the thousands of live landmines left behind, he says.A sociologist, criminologist, and psychologist, French has worked with traumatic stress clients for more than 40 years. He previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1959 to 1965. He holds Ph.D.s in sociology (social disorganization/social psychology) from UNH and in cultural psychology (educational psychology and measurement) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a native of Suncook, N.H.The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.VIDEOhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgUsLuRm1G4Prof. Laurence French discusses the findings presented in his new book “War Trauma and its Aftermath: An International Perspective on the Balkan and Gulf Wars.”PHOTOhttp://www.unh.edu/news/img/french.JPGUNH researcher Laurence French gives a talk on “PTSD in the Balkans” at the University of Tusla in Bosnia. French was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, from 2009 to 2010. GRAPHIChttp://www.unh.edu/news/img/yugoslavia.pdfMap of the new boundaries of the former Yugoslavia. -30-Broadcasters: Laurence French is available for interviews in the university's ReadyCam television studio. To schedule an interview, contact Lori Wright at 603-862-0574 or lori.wright@unh.edu, or Erika Mantz at 603-862-1567 or erika.mantz@unh.edu. Once an interview is confirmed with UNH, producers can call the VideoLink Operations Center at 617-340-4300 to coordinate the shot.Media Contact: Lori Wright | 603-862-0574 | UNH Media Relations Secondary Contact: Laurence French | 603-746-3240 | UNH Justiceworks T-hallCopyright © 2012 UNH Media Relations, 15 Strafford Ave, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824.UNH is part of the University System of New Hampshire.Page 2 of 3UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions to War Trauma1/31/2018http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2012/mar/lw19ptsd.cfm.htmlADA Acknowledgement | Privacy Policy | UNH Home | E-mail WebmasterPage 3 of 3UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions to War Trauma1/31/2018http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2012/mar/lw19ptsd.cfm.html

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UNH Researcher: Gulf, Balkan Wars Add New Dimensions To War Trauma Book Sheds New Light On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Its Often Devastating Aftermath

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