U a comprehensive database of American prisoners of war during World War II, we find that survival from captivity generally declines as the hierarchy of a prisoner’s group becomes steeper or more closely matches the military’s established hierarchy. There is no evidence that survival is enhanced by being held in more hierarchical groups. One interpretation of these findings that is consistent w...

Rampant sexual violence is one of the most horrendous human rights abuses taking place within Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) armed conflict. The UN has called these abuses “strategic” and a “weapon of war.” Both labels carry specific implications within the human rights discourse. However, there is a lack of structured data exploring these concepts in the context of the DRC. To addres...

Modern epidemiology has evolved in the last decades from the simplified "cause-effect" paradigm to a multi-factorial framework of causality. The concept of "Fetal Origin of Adult Diseases" (FOAD) is a good example: it suggests that preconception circumstances and fetal exposures as well as infancy and early childhood experiences may eventually change an individual's susceptibility to adult morb...

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is a successful and culturally universal intervention for the treatment of survivors of multiple and severe traumatic events, such as organized violence, torture, war, rape, and childhood abuse. Field tests in contexts of ongoing adversity and disaster areas, as well as controlled trials in various countries, have shown that three to six sessions can be sufficie...

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is a successful and culturally universal intervention for the treatment of survivors of multiple and severe traumatic events, such as organized violence, torture, war, rape, and childhood abuse. Field tests in contexts of ongoing adversity and disaster areas, as well as controlled trials in various countries, have shown that three to six sessions can be sufficie...

We document the association between war-related shocks in childhood and adult outcomes for Europeans born during the first half of the twentieth century. Using a variety of data, at both the macro- and the micro-level, we address the following questions: What are the patterns of mortality among Europeans born during this period? Do war-related shocks in childhood and adolescence help predict ad...

War trauma leads to a wide range of psychological consequences and disorders that can be quite disabling to individuals and their families. At times of war, existing resources become strained to cope with all demands of trauma sufferers. The survivors' role of managing their own mental conditions becomes highly important and relevant as a way of reducing the resulted suffering. Unfortunately, t...

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is a successful and culturally universal intervention for the treatment of survivors of multiple and severe traumatic events, such as organized violence, torture, war, rape, and childhood abuse. Field tests in contexts of ongoing adversity and disaster areas, as well as controlled trials in various countries, have shown that three to six sessions can be sufficie...

Research with child soldiers is crucial to improving mental health services after war. This research also can illuminate innovative approaches to treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adult soldiers, veterans and other trauma survivors in high-income countries. A key contribution is the role of social ecology for trauma-healing interventions.