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Individual change after genocide in Bosnian survivors of “ethnic cleansing”: Assessing personality dysfunction
Author(s) -
Weine Stevan M.,
Becker Daniel F.,
Vojvoda Dolores,
Hodzic Emir,
Sawyer Marie,
Hyman Leslie,
Laub Dori,
McGlashan Thomas H.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1023/a:1024469418811
Subject(s) - bosnian , genocide , ethnic cleansing , serbian , ethnic group , refugee , personality , psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology , history , philosophy , linguistics , archaeology , sociology , political science , anthropology , law
Abstract The authors used the SCID‐DES (disorders of extreme stress) instrument to assess for personality change in Bosnian survivors of “ethnic cleansing.” Twenty four refugees underwent systematic, trauma‐focused, research assessments, including the SCID‐DES interview. Overall, this group of Bosnian survivors had been severely traumatized as a result of the Serbian nationalists' genocide. However, no subject met diagnostic criteria for DES. The SCID‐DES yields far lower rates of trauma‐related personality change in Bosnian survivors of genocide than in adult survivors of prolonged early life traumas. Therefore, the DES construct may have better application to prolonged, interpersonal, early life traumas than to the prolonged, communal traumas of genocide.