Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T20:18:10.568Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Occupational stress and UN peacekeepers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2014

J. Tobin
J. Tobin*
Affiliation:
Bloomfield Hospital, Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr J. Tobin, Bloomfield Hospital, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16, Ireland. (Email: tobinjp3@gmail.com)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Ireland has been actively involved in peacekeeping operations since the 1950s. The unique psychological stressors associated with this form of military activity have been under-recognised and under-researched.

Aim

The aim of this paper is to bring to the attention of mental health professionals, who have been caring for military and retired military peacekeeping personnel, the unique difficulties associated with peacekeeping and how they can impact upon the mental health of the peacekeeper.

Methods

The nature of peacekeeping is outlined. There is a short review of the limited literature on the mental health effects of this kind of military deployment. There is also an outline of the positive outcomes for the majority of those who have served as peacekeepers.

Results

Both the negative and the positive mental health outcomes depend on the particular mission. Each mission is different and the nature of a mission also changes over time. Post-traumatic stress disorder rates can vary from 3% to 15% of a peacekeeping cohort, depending upon the nature of the violence associated with the mission. The vast majority of peacekeepers have found their peacekeeping deployments as an enriching experience.

Conclusion

Peacekeepers are often witnesses as well as the victims of traumatic events. The restrictions placed upon their military role by the mission mandate can be a source of stress for them. Their mental health needs to be supported during the mission and after they have returned home.

Keywords

Mandatemission ambiguitymultiple missionspositive outcomespowerlessnessPTSDunique stressors
Type
Original Research
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 205 - 208
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bache, M, Hommelgaard, B (1994). Danish UN Soldiers: Experience and Stress Reactions. Defence Centre for Leadership: Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Britt, TW, Adler, AB, Bartone, PT (2001). Deriving benefits from stressful events: the role of engagement in meaningful work and hardiness. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 6, 53–63.Google Scholar
Dirkzwager, AJ, Bramsen, I, van der Ploeg, HM (2005). Factors associated with post traumatic stress among peacekeeping soldiers. Anxiety, Stress and Coping 18, 37–51.Google Scholar
Everly, GS (1995). Psychotraumatology. In Psychotraumatology: Key Papers and Core Concepts in Post Traumatic Stress (ed. G. S. Everly and J. M. Lating), pp. 3–8. Plenum Press: New York, NY.Google Scholar
Klaasens, ER, van Veen, T, Weerts, JM, Zitman, FG (2008). Mental health of Dutch peacekeeping veterans 10-25 years after deployment. European Psychiatry 23, 486–490.Google Scholar
Litz, BT, Orsillo, SM, Friedman, M, Ehrlich, P, Batres, A (1997). Post traumatic stress disorder associated with peacekeeping duty in Somalia for US military personnel. American Journal of Psychiatry 154, 178–184.Google Scholar
McDonald, C, Chamberlain, K, Long, N, Mirfin, K (1996). Psychological Effects of Peacekeeping Deployments on Military Personnel. Massey University: Palmerston North, NZ, 77pp.Google Scholar
Mehlum, L (1995). Positive and negative consequences of serving in a UN peacekeeping mission: a follow-up study. International Review of Armed Forces Medical Services 68, 289–295.Google Scholar
Mehlum, L, Weisaeth, L (2002). Predictors of post traumatic stress reactions in Norwegian UN peacekeepers 7 years after service. Journal of Traumatic Stress 15, 17–26.Google Scholar
O’Brien, LS (1994). What will be the psychiatric consequences of the war in Bosnia? A bad war from the psychiatric point of view, leading to hidden pathology. British Journal of Psychiatry 164, 443–447.Google Scholar
Orsillo, SM, Weathers, FW, Litz, BT, Steinberg, HR, Huska, JA, Keane, TM (1996). Current and lifetime psychiatric disorders among war zone related post traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 184, 307–313.Google Scholar
Passey, DG, Crockett, DJ (1995). Psychological consequences of exposure to UN peacekeeping duties in the former Yugoslavia, Report of the Surgeon General. National Defense: Ottawa, Canada.Google Scholar
Pearn, J (2000). Traumatic stress disorders: a classification with implications for prevention and management. Military Medicine 165, 434–440.Google Scholar
Ponteva, M, Jormanainen, V, Nurro, S, Lehesjoki, M (2000). Mortality after the UN service: follow-up study of the Finnish peacekeeping contingents in the years 1969-1996. International Review of the Armed Forces Medical Services 73, 235–239.Google Scholar
Richardson, JD, Elhai, JD, Pedlar, DJ (2006). Association of PTSD and depression with medical and specialist care utilization in modern peacekeeping veterans in Canada with health related disabilities. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 67, 1240–1245.Google Scholar
Shigemura, J, Nomura, S (2002). Mental health issues of peacekeeping workers. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 56, 483–491.Google Scholar
Stapleton, JA, Asmundson, GJ, Woods, M, Taylor, S, Stein, M (2006). Health care utilization by United Nations peacekeeping veterans with co-occurring self-reported, post traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms versus those without. Military Medicine 6, 562–566.Google Scholar
Thoresen, S, Mehlum, L, Moller, B (2003). Suicide in peacekeepers: a cohort study of mortality from suicide in 22,275 Norwegian veterans from international peacekeeping operations. Social Psychiatry Psychiatric Epidemiology 38, 605–610.Google Scholar
United Nations (1995). Tips for Trainers: Stress Management for United States Peacekeepers. DPKO/Training Unit: New York, NY, 37pp.Google Scholar
Updegraff, JA, Taylor, SE (2000). From vulnerability to growth: positive and negative effects of stressful life events. In Loss and Trauma: General and Close Relationship Perspectives (ed. J. H. Harvey and E. Miller), pp. 3–28. Brunner-Routledge: Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar
Ward, W (1997). Psychiatric morbidity in Australian veterans of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Somalia. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 31, 184–193.Google Scholar
Weisath, L (1979). Psychiatric Disease and Stress Among UN Soldiers in South Lebanon (UNIFIL). Forsuarets Saniet: Oslo.Google Scholar
Weisath, L, Mehlum, L, Mortensen, M (1996). Peacekeeper stress: new and different? National Centre for PTSD Clinical Quarterly 6, 1.Google Scholar