Meaning as a Mission: Making sense of war and peacekeeping

Abstract

The objective of this thesis was to examine the significance of meaning in a sample of veterans who were deployed during various war and peacekeeping operations. A cognitive perspective was chosen to explore how veterans make sense of their war zone experiences and find personal significance in these events by collecting data by questionnaires complemented by in-depth interviews. Questionnaire findings of a sample of 1.561 veterans who participated in various war and peacekeeping operations showed that the majority of veterans evaluated their military deployment experiences as positive long after their service despite exposure to war zone stressors. A positive perception of military deployment experiences was most beneficial for mental health and quality of life over the long term. Furthermore, distrust in others and the world was strongly associated with perceived threat, intrusive and avoidant thoughts and with lower quality of life in our model. Creating meaning in terms of a positive world view is an important mission after military deployment to achieve mental adaptation and healthy functioning. Qualitative findings showed that veterans without posttraumatic stress reactions appraised their peacekeeping experiences in Cambodia as meaningful. Deployment represented a different reality in which military performance and comradeship gave clear sense and direction. The professional skills and life experience they gained created new opportunities in their future career and personal life. Their stories reflected a greater sense of personal strength, mastery, feelings of fulfilment and appreciation for their effort when looking back on their accomplishments compared to veterans with posttraumatic stress reactions. The latter felt more life threat during deployment and were less able to keep their emotional distance. Moreover, for them the different realities were difficult to put in perspective, such as facing the worthlessness of human life in Cambodia and seeing the injustice between worlds. The reality in Cambodia left a lasting impression in their minds and shattered basic assumptions. Questionnaire findings showed that the construct of resilience was well defined through self esteem, personal control and optimism, and showed to be strongly associated with positive meaning after military deployment. As most veterans adapted well after military deployment experiences and only a minority actually developed posttraumatic stress disorder, veterans with resilient pathways after deployment are an important avenue for future research and must serve as a standard in clinical practice. The concept of meaning demonstrated to be an important perspective in examining adaptive mechanisms and psychological change after threatening experiences. Findings of this research should generate awareness of the positive consequences of military deployment for veterans in the general public. Veterans benefit from social recognition after returning home from deployment that facilitates mental adaptation and social reintegration. Prevention and intervention should facilitate the search for meaning in processing military deployment experiences. Emphasizing a positive focus prevents negative appraisals from becoming persistent and resulting in chronic PTSD. Distrustful beliefs in veterans may be a significant barrier in seeking mental health care and could lead to problems in receiving adequate emotional support and may, therefore, result in a prolonged recovery trajectory.