Abstract

The battles that have come to this day had spectacular psychologic and psychiatric effects. Battle stres reactions in historical development phase has been mentioned with such different names as nostalgia, shell shock, soldier’s heart, Da Costra Syndrome, old sergeant syndrome, agent orange effect and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the symptoms coming into prominence. On the othere hand they do tend to show similarities (palpilation, stomach complaints, rhomatizmal aches, neurological and psychiatric symptoms, etc.) in the context of symptoms and findigs. During the historical phase, the transition of methods have also infliuenced the prominent clinical characteristics of the war stress syndromes. The symptoms that arose during the gulf War have exhibited neither similarities nor explainable characteristics with previous war stress reactions of the past. Therefore, in the context of diagnostics systems, there is no clarity about where it should be incorporated. The inability to find any satisfactory organic pathology in war stress reactions have been the unchanging characteristic of the illness. In collaboration with the increasing mortality and morbidity that arise in wars it is not only an important factor but the resistance of patients, who had been effected, to amelioration is continuing to be an important concern which preoccupies governments, military authorities and doctors.

Key words: Combat Stress Reactions, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Military Psychiatry

Article Language: Turkish English