Issue 3/4 Vol. 34 1992

The interdependence of emotional reactions between displaced persons and specialists

MILAKOVIC-VERSIC, N.

Emotional reactions, behaviour and different modes of communication in displaced persons who registered with the Center for Social Work - Medvescak, Zagreb, during the war, from August 1991 to March 1992, were observed. Approximately 100 people were examined, mainly young and middle-aged women, as well as older people, during a period of three months. Some were observed over the entire period mentioned above. Considerable differences in emotional reactions, behaviour, and modes of communication, resulting from traumas experienced, were found between the first contact and the contacts which followed. First contacts abounded in straight forward reactions, mainly crying and, on some occasions, outbursts of anger. The contacts that followed were essentially different. The author analyzes the differences between the first contact and those following, the causes of different modes of communication, and their effects on the author's own emotional response. The Medvescak Center for Social Work employs sixteen specialists: eleven social workers, two lawyers, one sociologist, one psychologist and one education specialist. Of the total number of specialists, seven have, in the course of the last ten years, had some kind of psychotherapeutic training (seminar on group therapy, Gestalt psychotherapy, Rogers counselling techniques, Balint group therapy, family psychotherapy, analytically-oriented psychotherapy; two specialists have had a year's experience in group analysis).

Keywords: displaced persons, refugees, exile, traumatic experiences, war, psychotherapy

Short Title: Milakovic-versic, N. (1992) PsyBeit 3-4:174

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