The Psychology of War

Dr. Novello, a former navy surgeon, talked about the effects of the Persian Gulf war on those who were in the United States, as well as the soldiers in the Middle East. He said that people’s psychological reactions to the war could be predicted based on their normal coping mechanisms for dealing with stressful situations. He discussed the effect of months of anticipation for the actual war to begin, how children’s reactions are typically based on the reactions of significant adult figures, and how veterans of previous wars were handling the new returning veterans. He responded to questions from the audience of student from around the country attending this Current Issues forum of the Close Up Foundation. Mr. Milewski moderated. close