Issue 3/4 Vol. 34 1992

A child and a family in wartime

GRUDEN, Z.

War circumstances and consequences lead to material losses which can cause various psychical relations and mental illness in the family. Besides its direct effects, in many families war provokes fantasies which are the source of anxiety leading to a variety of psychopathological reactions and indispositions. War dramas provoke fantasies of the primal scene through a symbolic aggression on the homeland. The destructive impulses in the 1991/1992 war in Croatia can be observed in the enemy's most fantastic and inhuman behaviour. The impulses to kill the father and to attack the son emerge when they are killed or when their lives are endangered. Separational fantasies, which are the most frequent in war circumstances, have a positive effect as they accelerate the process of individualization. Recognition of these fantasies reduces the feeling of anxiety and prevents psychic indispositions in the family.

Keywords: wartime family, anxiety, separational fantasies

Short Title: Gruden, Z. (1992) PsyBeit 3-4:194

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