Las consecuencias psicológicas de la guerra: la experiencia israelí
Zahava SOLOMON
RESUMEN
Se presentan en este trabajo algunos de los resultados de los estudios realizados del impacto de la guerra sobre civiles y soldados. A lo largo de los últimos 12 años, la autora y colegas del Cuerpo Médico del Ejército Israelí y de la Universidad de Tel Aviv, han realizado una serie de investigaciones sobre tres guerras, la Guerra de Yom Kippur en 1973, la Guerra del Líbano en 1982 y la Guerra del Golfo en 1991. Se han estudiado hombres y mujeres, civiles y soldados, víctimas de reacciones de estrés en combate, héroes y prisioneros de guerra, niños, adolescentes, adultos y ancianos. Se ha examinado la implicación de un conjunto de factores psicológicos, sociales y cul
turales en la génesis y recuperación de la psicopatología producida por la guerra.
SUMMARY
The aim of this review is to analyse, from a neurobiological perspective, the intimate mechanism of the physiopathology of aggressivity, based on the most recent neuroanatomic and neurochemical investigation data. These areas of research have used animals models of aggressivity, pharmacological tools that influence specific neurotransmission pathways, capable of inducing or blocking aggressive behaviour; and anatomic studies based on non-invasive neuroimaging techniques. The most plausible hypothesis for the neurochemical basis of aggressivity proposes a reduction in serotoninergic functionalism together with a hyperactivity of the central noradrenergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission systems. Moreover; other neurochemical systems, such as cholinergic, gabaergic, opioidergic or glutamatergic could be involved in this kind of behaviour; at least in animals models. Dysfunctions of the different neurotransmission systems implicated in aggressivity are explained by various study parameters: changes in cerebral or cerebrospinal fluid levels of the neurotransmitter or its metabolites, radioligand binding and receptors density in brain, response to agents that affect the performance of the different neurotransmission systems and an indirect assessment of this with neuroendocrine tests, and the intraneuronal relationship between the different neurotransmission systems. Finally, comment is made of endocrine system involvement and the relationship between genetics and aggressivity
