This exploratory research on psychic consequences of armed conflicts has been carried out in Montreal on 30 latin-americans, eight to 12 year-old refugees.
The principal objective was to assert the importance of traumas intensity, accumulation and age of occurence on the level and type of symptomatology (introversion-extroversion). Using two types of methodologies, clinical scales and in a more exploratory way, projective instruments to study the intra-psychic dynamic underlying the symptomatology observed. The children were classified according to trauma intensity and for this purpose, a trauma scale was defined with latin-american informants.
ACHENBACH and DOMINIQUE clinical evaluation scales were appplied to the measure of clinical symptomatology. These instruments were analysed as a function of the symptoms intensity and type. Among results, the accumulation and intensity of traumas were found to be in significant correlation with anxio-depressive symptoms, as reported by the children with interiorization symptoms in ACHENBACH. The predominance of interiorization is discussed. The analysis of the TAT, based on objective indicators, brought out a light frequency of violent themes in relations with the clinical symptomatology.
This research indicates the relevance of projective instruments to the study of traumatic response.
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