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The Guiltless Guilty: Trauma-Related Guilt and Psychopathology in Former Ugandan Child Soldiers

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Abstract

Child soldiers often experience complex trauma as victims and perpetrators, and feelings of guilt may affect their psychological health. The relationship between the children’s traumatic experiences as victims or perpetrators, their perception of themselves as victim or perpetrator, guilt and psychopathology were investigated: of the 330 former child soldiers interviewed, 50.8 % perceived themselves as victims and 19.1 % as perpetrators. On psychopathology measures, scores within the clinical range were 33 % for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 36.4 % for major depressive disorder (MDD), and 26.1 % for externalizing problems. Low socio-economic status, traumatic experience as perpetrator, and guilt were significant predictors of PTSD. Significant predictors of MDD were low socio-economic status, traumatic experiences as victim, and guilt. A greater number of traumatic experiences as perpetrator and guilt were associated with externalizing problems. The current paper underscores the significance of guilt following traumatic experiences and has implications for the development of clinical interventions for war-affected children.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to all the children and teachers at Laroo Boarding School who made this research possible. This study was funded by the Children for Tomorrow Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Centre of Hamburg, Martinistrasse 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany

    Fionna Klasen, Sina Reissmann & Catharina Voss

  2. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Medical School Hamburg, University of Applied Sciences and Medical University, Hamburg, Germany

    Sina Reissmann

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda

    James Okello

Authors
  1. Fionna Klasen
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  2. Sina Reissmann
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  3. Catharina Voss
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  4. James Okello
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Correspondence to Fionna Klasen.

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Klasen, F., Reissmann, S., Voss, C. et al. The Guiltless Guilty: Trauma-Related Guilt and Psychopathology in Former Ugandan Child Soldiers. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 46, 180–193 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0470-6

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