ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - University of New Mexico researchers are trying to measure the trauma of war.
"The ultimate goal is: Can we really identify what was the primary event or set of event that primarily hurt people, psychologically and physically?" said Dr. Michael Hollifield, assistant professor of psychiatry and family and community medicine.
Hollifield has received a three-year, $856,000 grant to look a health problems that occur after people experience war-related trauma.
Researchers don't know why some people suffer few health problems, while others are gripped by problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder after horrors that occur in war. And they don't know what kind of events might cause the most lingering health problems.
One theory is that people who suffer one-on-one harm, such as torture, endure more long-term effects than people who are victims of random violence, such as being hit by shrapnel from a bomb, Hollifield said.
"We want to see if that's true," he said.
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