The Effect of Chronic Traumatic Experience on Palestinian Children

This research was conducted on a representative sample of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian people have been exposed to chronic traumatic experiences throughout the sixty years of wars, conflicts, crises, displacement and the occupation which has had so many effects on all aspects of their lives, in particular on the mental and physical health of children and their families. Palestinian children and their families currently have no hope that the circle of suffering will end. If this traumatized society gets no help in the near future, then the community will become too weak to recover and we might face the prospect of a lost generation of children. However, this research found that some children were exposed to traumatic experiences but did not develop PTSD, and when the researcher examined the reasons, he found that these particular children received a high level of support from family, friends, relatives, teachers, spiritual support, ideological commitment, and national pride as well as Governmental and NGO institutions. In addition, the positive traits of personality can reduce the effects of PTSD.