STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF

File: 110596_sep96_decls2_0025.txt
Page: 0025
Total Pages: 48

Subject: STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF        

Unit: VAR. BUMED  

Parent Organization: BUMED       

Box ID: BX303818

Folder Title: USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992                                                  

Document Number:          4

Folder SEQ  #:         13











              them to atrocities, or might kill ..them, so why not do what

              was necessary to survive.

                    The horror of war and the very real threat of violence

              elicited some imaginative solutions. Movies served as an

              outlet or moans to cope with thoughts or fears of violence.

              Movies also provided an escape to a world where happy

              endings were possible. Early in the deployment, the

              physicians began gathering in the operating room suite to

              view nightly movies. Later, these gatherings evolved into

              discussions of trauma management followed by a movie. The

              movies had primarily violent themes. The assembled group

              had an insatiable appetite for movies with names like

              "Terminator," "Predator," "Lethal Weapon," "Friday the

              13th," and "Rambo." Movies that were played over the ship's

              closed circuit TV system had similar titles. At one point,

              a nine-hour Civil War Documentary arrived by mail. The

              segments were played nightly in the operating room and were

              viewed with intensity and fascination.

                   At the same time as the horror movies were being shown,

              another group in the officer's lounge viewed movies that

              elicited sadness. -"Beaches," a movie about a woman's death

              from cancer, was played numerous times. Many felt free to

              shed tears and display their loneliness and pain in the

              company of others sharing the @erience. The officer's

              lounge group also viewed upbeat movies with happy endings.




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Document 48 f:/Week-39/BX303818/USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992/stress and coping with trauma of war in the pers:1104960910243
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-39
Box ID = BX303818
Unit = VAR. BUMED
Parent Organization = BUMED
Folder Title = USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992
Folder Seq # = 13
Subject = STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERS
Document Seq # = 4
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 04-NOV-1996