Abstract
Prevention of health problems is conventionally described as having two levels. Primary prevention is the prevention of the underlying illness or trauma itself by intervention to eliminate one or more of its causes. Encouragement of abstinence from cigarette smoking, for example, is an important method of the primary prevention of lung cancer in both the smoker and the nearby inhalers of the sidestream smoke. Secondary prevention is the prevention of one or more of the consequences of illness or trauma by intervention after the illness process has begun or the trauma has occurred. The early detection and treatment of lung cancer—preferably during the asymptomatic phase before the illness has risen “above the clinical horizon”—has been demonstrated to be effective in limiting the consequences of the illness in a significant number of patients. A third level, sometimes called tertiary prevention but more commonly known as treatment or rehabilitation, seeks to prevent the progression of the disease after the symptoms appear (Last, 1992). Figure 1 indicates the “windows” (time periods during which opportunities exist) for prevention during the progression of an illness.
Dear Professor Freud
...This is the problem: Is there any way of delivering mankind from the menace of war?...
A. Einstein, 1932
Dear Professor Einstein
...You have taken me by surprise, however, by posing the question of what can be done to protect mankind from the curse of war.... Our mythological theory of instincts makes it easy for us to find a formula for indirect methods of combating war. If willingness to engage in war is an effect of the destructive instinct, the most obvious plan will be to bring Eros, its antagonist, into play against it....
S. Freud, 1932 (Freud & Einstein, 1932, pp. 199, 212)
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aristophanes (1979) (Trans. B. B. Rogers). Lysistrata. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bellamy, R. F. (1988). Conserve the fighting strength. Military Medicine, 153, 185–186.
Colburn, D. (1991, January 29). The way of the warrior: Are men born to fight? Washington Post, Health Section, pp. 10–12.
Danieli, Y. (1985). The treatment and prevention of long-term effects and intergenerational transmission of victimization: A lesson from holocaust survivors and their children. In C. R. Figley (Ed.), Trauma and its wake: The study and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Esquivel, A. P. (1984). Quoted in R. L. Sivard, World military and social expenditures 1985. Washington, DC: World Priorities, 1985, p. 7.
Figley, C. R. (1985). From victim to survivor: Social responsibility in the wake of catastrophe. In C. R. Figley (Ed.), Trauma and its wake: The study and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Figley, C. R., and Leventman, S. (1990). Strangers at home: Vietnam veterans since the war. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Freud, S. (1915). Instincts and their vicissitudes. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works (Vol. 14, pp. 117–140 ). London: Hogarth Press.
Freud, S., and Einstein, A. (1932). Why war? In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works (Vol. 22, pp. 199–218 ). London: Hogarth Press.
Garfield, R. M., and Neugut, A. I. (1991). Epidemiologic analysis of warfare: An historical review. Journal of the American Medical Association, 266, 688–692.
Gersons, B. P. R., and Carlier, I. V. E. (1992). Posttraumatic stress disorder; the history of a recent concept. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 742–748.
Geyer, A., and Green, B. G. (1992). Lines in the sand: Justice and the Gulf War. Westminster: John Knox Press.
Glasser, I. (1967). Judgment at Fort Jackson: The court-martial of Captain Howard B. Levy. Law in Transition Quarterly, 4, 123–156.
Grant, J. P. (1991). State of the world’s children 1991. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. (1986).
Nobel Peace Prize (1985): Speeches and lectures. Cambridge, MA: Author.
Kleber, R. J., and Brom, D. (1992). Coping with trauma: Theory, prevention and treatment. Amsterdam and Berwyn, PA: Swets and Zeitlinger International.
Krystal, H. (1988). Integration and self-healing: Affect, trauma, alexithymia. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Langer, E. (1967). The court-martial of Captain Levy: Medical ethics v. military law. Science, 156, 1346, 1349.
Last, J. M. (1992). Scope and methods of prevention. In J. M. Last and R. B. Wallace (Eds.), Public health and preventive medicine (pp. 3–11 ). Norwalk, CT: Appleton and Lange.
Laufer, R. S. (1988). Human response to war and war-related events in the contemporary world. In M. Lystad (Ed.), Mental health response to mass emergencies: Theory and practice. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Letterman, J. (1866). Medical recollections of the Army of the Potomac. New York: Appleton, (p. 100). Cited by Rubenstein, 1988.
Liberman, R., Gold, W., and Sidel, V. W. (1968). Medical ethics and the military. New Physician, 17, 299–309.
Lifton, R. J. (1968). Death in life: Survivors of Hiroshima. New York: Random House. ( Reprinted by Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991 )
Lindy, J. D. (1988). Vietnam: A casebook. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Lown, B. (1986). Nobel Peace Prize lecture: A prescription for hope. New England Journal of Medicine, 314, 985–987.
Miedzian, M. (1991). Boys will be boys: Breaking the link between masculinity and violence. New York: Doubleday.
Milgram, N. A., and Hobfoll, S. (1986). Generalizations from theory and practice in war-related stress. In N. A. Milgram (Ed.), Stress and coping in time of war: Generalizations from the Israeli experience. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Newsletter of the Medical Student Peace Movement, Associated Students of Stanford University (1968). (Cited by R. Liberman, W. Gold, and V. W. Sidel, 1968 )
Physicians for Social Responsibility. (1962). The medical consequences of thermonuclear war. New England Journal of Medicine, 266, 1126–1155.
Riding, A. (1992, March 5). Aux barricades! “La Marseillaise” is besieged. New York Times.
Rubenstein, D. A. (1988). Health service support and the principles of war. Military Medicine, 153, 145–146.
Ruddick, S. (1989). Maternal thinking. Boston: Beacon Press.
Ryle, J. A. (1939). Foreword. In H. Joule (Ed.), The doctor’s view of war (pp. 7–10 ). London: Allen and Unwin.
Seabury, P., and Codevilla, A. (1989). War: Ends and means. New York: Basic Books.
Sidel, R. (1992). Women and children last: The plight of poor women in affluent America (rev. ed.). New York: Penguin.
Sidel, V. W. (1989). Weapons of mass destruction: The greatest threat to public health. Journal of the American Medical Association, 262, 680–682.
Sidel, V. W. (1991). Quid est amor patriae? PSI? Quarterly, 1, 96–104.
Sidel, V. W., Onel, E., Geiger, H. J., Leaning, J., and Foege, W. H. (1992). Public health responses to natural and human disasters. In J. M. Last and R. B. Wallace (Eds.), Public health and preventive medicine (pp. 1173–1186 ). Norwalk, CT: Appleton and Lange.
Sivard, R. L. (1991). World military and social expenditures 1991. Washington, DC: World Priorities.
Ulman, R. B., and Brothers, D. (1988). The shuttered self: A psychoanalytic.study of trauma. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Walzer, M. (1992). Just and unjust wars. New York: Basic Books.
Weerts, J. M. P. (1993). Nationalities in Europe: The risk of war and the medical responsibility. Medicine and War, 9, 326–333.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sidel, V.W., Gersons, B.P.R., Weerts, J.M.P. (1995). Primary Prevention of Traumatic Stress Caused by War. In: Kleber, R.J., Figley, C.R., Gersons, B.P.R. (eds) Beyond Trauma. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9421-2_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9421-2_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9423-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9421-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive