Gordan Majić

Self-image, war psychotrauma and refugee status in adolescents

The aim of this study was to assess how war psychotrauma, refugee status and other factors relate to self-image. Psychotherapeutic-psychiatric interview, the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ), questionnaires for measuring war stressors, posttraumatic stress reactions (PTS-reactions), depression and general data were administered. A total of 322 adolescents from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia were included in the study. In 60.32% of the examinees, more than four war stressors were encountered. In 13.68% of the examinees, high PTS-reactions occurred. The refugees had nearly four times higher odds (aOR=3.66; 95% CI=1.63–8.2; p<0.01) of having a higher Offer score for the sexual attitudes subscale. Lower war stress had 0.28 times lower odds (aOR=0.28; 95% CI=0.11–0.71; p<0.01) of having a higher Offer score for the sexual attitudes subscale. More severe PTS-reactions had six times higher odds (aOR=6.15; 95% CI=1.7–22.2; p<0.01) of reaching a higher Offer score for the emotional tone subscale. War psychotrauma and refugee status are related to poorer adjustment only in some of the OSIQ subscales. Practical measures of joined sexually preventive/therapeutic activities are proposed, as well as educational and preventive/therapeutic psychotrauma models.

The Process of a Member’s Planned Termination from an Analytic Group

We discuss the dynamics of a therapy group when a female member announces her planned and then mutually agreed termination. To our knowledge, this subject is a relatively neglected area in professional literature. The group held sessions for a total period of one and a half hours a week for approximately six years. The group was slow-open and consisted of seven members and the conductor. The conductor conducted the group in accordance with the theoretical background of Foulkes. We describe the announcement of the member’s termination, the group dynamics and the group’s transference-countertransference feelings. Interestingly, after the member announced her departure from the group another member’s grandfather died, which intensified the issues of death, loss, separation and mourning within the group.