Authors publish the results of investigation in the Bosnian town Mosta
r in autumn, 1994. In the course of clinical psychological and psychia
tric practice in the eastern part of Mostar, research into posttraumat
ic stress reactions and depressiveness (hereafter PTSD) carried out by
questionnaires took place. The Impact of Event Scale (IES, 1979) by H
orowitz and the questionnaire of depressiveness were used in 50 childr
en. The most frequent trauma was: to become a refugee; death or injury
in family; to see death or injury of other persons; a stay in a conce
ntration camp; to be tortured or to be present at torturing other pers
ons; mother's depression or depressive reaction. The following symptom
s occurred most frequently: depressive feelings, unusual quietness, fl
ashbacks, sleep disorders, omnipresent anxiety, keeping of contact wit
h other children or adults. In most of the families that were in conta
ct with psychologist, more persons suffered from the symptoms of PTSD.
These children have passed through a preceding screening examination
performed by English pediatricians and were sent into psychological ca
re on account of the striking character of behaviour and references of
parents. The authors found general IES = 36.6, the subscales: intrusi
on = 16.3, and avoidance = 18.3. Correlation 0.422 with the questionna
ire of depressiveness (Birleson, 1981) was found. There were not any m
arked relation between age and results in IES; this was in corresponde
nce with the clinical experience. When compared with reference groups
of adults (Horowitz, 1993), the sample was comparable with Israeli sol
diers with PTSD and with women who survived the tornado. Higher values
in IES were found when the results were compared with that of 600 chi
ldren within the artetherapeutic programme; this is linked up with eas
ier identification of child at pediatric examination and at school. Th
e results show a marked impact of war on the child's experience and th
e necessity of psychotherapeutic intervention programmes.