Quality of life after traumatic loss and the role of social support: Examining the psychological consequences of the war twenty-five years later

Abstract

The research was conducted with the aim of understanding the far-reaching psychological consequences of the war that took place in the territory of former Yugoslavia (1991-1995). The study examines the relationships between wartime traumatic experience of loss, the quality of life and mental health, and the role of social support across three categories of respondents: the first consisting of the respondents who had lost a close family member in the war and whose remains have not been found to date; the second category consisting of the persons who had lost a close family member in the war, and the third category including the respondents who participated in the war socialization but did not experience the loss of a close family member in the war. The survey used the Psychosomatic symptoms lists, the Depression Symptoms Questionnaire, the Subjective Happiness Scale, the Life Satisfaction Scale, and the Social Support Significance Assessment Scale. The results show that the respondents who continue to search for the body of a missing family member have a lower quality of life than the other two categories of respondents, as well as a more pronounced presence of depressive and psychosomatic symptoms. The role of social support in the trauma recovery process remains unclear. The results of the study are discussed in relation to completed and prolonged traumatic loss, and point to further research into the complex emotional dynamics as a consequence of war socialization and the importance of professional psychological support.

Anomie and Psychological Violence as Predictors of Perpetrated Physical Violence in Close Relationships by Female Adults

“…Based on the obtained results it can be said that this hypothesis is confirmed because anomie is a significant positive predictor of both dimensions of committed physical violence: light hitting, poking, pushing and beating with or without objects. As an explanation for the result obtained in this study, it can be said that if the life circumstances of a person and the society in which person lives are such that they can lead to the feelings of insecurity about the present and the future, as well as dissatisfaction, this can further lead to reacting with the use of violent behavior (Radetić-Lovrić, 2011). Therefore, as a response to the subjective experience of powerlessness, dissatisfaction and insecurity, which is associated with the climate within a society characterized by extreme tension, which is difficult and in which rapid changes take place, violent behavior is manifested, which is in accordance with some results obtained in previous studies (Durkheim, 1951;Merton, 1968;as cited in Konty, 2005;Nikolić-Ristanović, 2008;as cited in Opsenica Kostić et al, 2016;Karimi & Jafari-Koshki, 2020).…”

“…(1984;as cited in Radetić Lovrić, 2011) is the author of the anomie and he suggested an explanation of collective consciousness which is much stronger than individual consciousness and its sums and which is considered important for understanding the concept of anomie in the explanation of socio-pathological behaviors. Collective consciousness enables the realization of social goals and establishes the socially acceptable behavior of an individual through the process of socializing and through the system of values in society, norms, collective ideas, opinions that exist in the social system and which are woven into customs, morality, law, religion (Radetić-Lovrić, 2011). As society and life circumstances change so does the collective consciousness.…”

“…Such life circumstances can be unfavorable for the development of an individual and can lead to the creation of dissatisfaction in a person, which manifests itself through various psychological phenomena (alienation, loneliness, helplessness), and can even lead to some types of social pathology (the world of crime, using drugs and other socio-pathological phenomena). Therefore, anomie may generate certain social-psychological phenomena that are more directly related to social-pathological phenomena and that anomie in itself is not sufficient to cause socialpathological phenomena (Radetić-Lovrić, 2011).…”