Women, children and war: The experience of intimate partners and their offspring with traumatized men

This qualitative study focused on the close family of veterans who participated and returned alive from wars. While we may have become acquainted with PTSD of soldiers, we rarely consider their spouses and children, and the effect that the veteran’s symptomatology may have on them. This article describes what the wives and children of veterans related about living with emotionally wounded and traumatised veterans, whose condition had serious and multiple effects on the family. The descriptions provided by the wives and the children were content analysed and themes extracted. The article concludes with a call for society at large to take a more active role in caring and supporting the veterans and their families.