House Demolition and Mental Health: Victims
and the Witnesses" (Samir Qouta, Raija-Leena Punamaki, and Eyad El-Sarraj)
The research examines
the immediate effects of losing one's home and witnessing the demolition
of houses on mental health among Palestinian adults and children. The loss
group of 47 adults whose homes were demolished, the witness group of 24
adults who witnessed the house demolition and the control group of 33 adults
were compared for their anxiety, depression and paranoiac symptoms. Furthermore,
38 children in the loss group, 36 children in the witness group and 50
children in the control group were compared for their psychological symptoms.
The results showed that adults who were exposed to house demolitions showed
a higher level of anxiety, depression and paranoiac symptoms. The children
in the loss group showed a higher level of psychological symptoms than
the children in the witness and control groups. The witness group differed
from the control group in having more depression among women and more psychological
symptoms among children. Women suffered more from anxiety, depression and
paranoiac symptoms than men in the loss and witness groups but not in the
control group.
