We have all heard about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the news. Major events such as President Biden’s solidarity with Israel, and Israel bombing Palestinian hospitals (and threatening to bomb more, where injured individuals are already screaming in pain because these hospitals ran out of pain medication) have taken over our news feeds. It is no doubt that living in these areas under constant threat has a number of physiological effects on these individuals. Such as in soldiers, children, and mothers.
Hamas and Israel have fought five wars since 2006 (The Economist Newspaper), meaning that individuals living in Israel and Palestinian territories have lived in a war zone for at least 17 years (there have been conflicts before, I encourage you to look into the history). In these war zone conditions, the sympathetic nervous system completely overrides the parasympathetic oversystem, preventing soldiers’ bodies from reaching and/ or maintaining homeostasis. Adrenaline continues to flow for hours on end, and in order to survive, soldiers naturally learn to block everything around them out. After living in these conditions for years, their bodies become used to living in “survival mode” and returning home without constant threats does not mean they automatically return to homeostasis. Their bodies can actually become even more off-balance. From the Iraq Afghanistan war, about 19% of soldiers return with PTSD but to avoid being perceived as “defective” only about half of these soldiers reach for help (Bruner et al., 2011). This war lasted from 2003-2011 (The Library of Congress) so it can be expected that these numbers will increase for the ongoing Isreali-Palestinian war.
As mentioned earlier, hospitals with innocent women and children are being bombed and more are in constant threat of a bombing. Other than experiencing similar physiological effects of heightened awareness, women experience a decrease of fertility due to a reduction of sex hormones which can lead to anxiety, which can lead to depression (Bruner, et al., 2011). All the while, many of these women are left to care for their children alone. Children are hypersensitive to their surroundings and maternal influences, and in these conditions their HPA-axis is negatively affected. HPA-axis dysregulation affects the way their bodies respond to stress, and can lead to mental disorders in the future.
Of course the effects on soldiers, women, and children can overlap in different levels and there are plenty more physiological systems to take into account.
Bruner, V., & Woll, P. (2011). The battle within: Understanding the physiology of war-zone stress exposure. Social Work in Health Care, 50(1), 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00981389.2010.513915
The Economist Newspaper. (n.d.). Young Palestinians in Gaza cannot find work and cannot leave. The Economist. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/07/14/young-palestinians-in-gaza-cannot-find-work-and-cannot-leave
Halevi, G., Djalovski, A., Kanat-Maymon, Y., Yirmiya, K., Zagoory-Sharon, O., Koren, L., & Feldman, R. (2017). The social transmission of risk: Maternal stress physiology, synchronous parenting, and well-being mediate the effects of war exposure on child psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126(8), 1087–1103. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000307
Wars in Iraq (2003-2011) and Afghanistan (2001-2021) : serving: Our voices : veterans history project collection : digital collections : library of Congress. The Library of Congress. (n.d.). https://www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/serving-our-voices/wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan/
The blog is very relevant, and I did not think about it that way; however it did lead me to question whether this stimulation of always having your HPA-axis negative and never being able to regulate to homeostasis in times of war affect the production of CRF that can lead to mutation in overstimulating it or not being stimulated enough that it effects the body over time in times of war? It was shown in an article, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response#:~:text=Chronic%20low%2Dlevel%20stress%20keeps,problems%20associated%20with%20chronic%20stress., as it discussed that if the HPA axis is activated for too long, it becomes like a car motor that is working hard until it stops working , and this overworking will lead the human body to have health problems due to this chronic stress that will never be regulated until the body just shuts off at one point. I found it compelling because the article discusses this, looks at how this war (chronic stress) will stimulate these people in high amounts that will lead to produce high amounts of CRF until it just stops that will cause many health issues in these soldiers, woman, and children.
ReplyDeleteThis war is a tragedy and is wreaking havoc on all those involved. You made very interesting points regarding the effects of war on homeostasis and its long-term consequences. Those suffering from PTSD experience continuous, dangerous levels of stress, leading to increased glucocorticoid serum concentrations. This made me think of what we just covered in lecture regarding long-term stress effects on learning and memory. As you mention, an overwhelming number of children are being affected by the war - many of whom have only known conflict and violence for their entire lives. Developing brains are incredibly sensitive to environmental factors, especially when those circumstances lead to living in a constant state of stress. Two of the most prominent structures that can be affected by increased adrenergic agents are the hippocampus and the amygdala, leading to neuronal atrophy and possible permanent damage (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4255796/). I wonder how these children's ability to learn and to form memories will be affected - especially those exposed to this environment for longer periods of time. Experiencing trauma at an early age can lead to developing mental health illnesses, neurodevelopment disorders, alter gene interactions, and can contribute to substance use disorders later in life (https://www.scielo.br/j/rbp/a/4XdM89bYgCxhndwY7Mr95mG/?lang=en), endangering all adolescents enduring this horrific war.
ReplyDeleteIs there any way to combat prolonged stress levels in these kinds of conditions? What types of therapies would be most effective in helping care for soldiers during war time?
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