This is also the same for my fiance's grandma. She grew up in Northern Italy during WWII. She went from upper middle class down to so poor they barely had food and often had no shoes. For her, she survived and coped because she had her family and her town. It's how she survives today. Most her friends are Italian and from her town, and then she has her immediate family nearby (her daughter lives with her and she bought my fiance and I a condo like 4 blocks from her house). Their culture is also different. In their culture it's appropriate to yell at each other. It's their way of expressing emotions, and expressing love. I still have a difficult time with the yelling...

My fiance's grandma doesn't understand me. She doesn't understand mental health, therapists, psychiatrists, psych meds... She always tells me to stop worrying about everything...even stop worrying about her! She says the only things I need to worry about in life is myself, my fiance, my dogs, and any future children. If those 4 things are okay, then there's nothing to worry about. She calls me a cryer...lol. And when my fiance tells his family I'm upset, they freak out. I'm told to not be upset or mad. It's like they don't allow me to feel any negative emotions. They jusy don't get it. But that's okay. I understand where they're coming from, so I set boundaries.

Times have changed since WWII. It's one of the down sides of technology. Instead of tight-knit families, we have broken homes. Instead of neighbors, we have facebook friends. Instead of going outside and socializing, we have social media. We have more and more people tryi g to escape from reality because we no longer socialize like we as humans are meant to. So now we have therapy to teach us how to cope and socialize. Many form intimate bonds with our Ts because we are deprived of such intimate relationships.

And a perfect example of this: pregnancy and motherhood. Before the village helped raise a baby. Family, friends, neighbors would help the new family with everything concerning a baby. We didn't need lamaze classes, breast-feeding classes, child-rearing classes, or books, or to seek out mommy and me classes. Those existed within your own community. They were your friends and family. Mothers suffered less from postpartum because they had so much support.

Childhood is another example. Children used to walk to school, play in parks, ride their bikes outside. Now they place on computers, tablets, and phones. Children have more adjustment issues, health issues, etc.

Please don't think I'm anti-technology because here I sit on my phone getting support from an online group of people. Technology has helped society (education, communication, etc), but it did also hurt it.

So when asked how did/do people from war times cope, it's simply because it was a different type of way of living. We all have scars from life, some bigger some smaller. And we all cope the best way we know how to. Sometimes the wounds are too great for an individual or group, or sometimes there's not enough support. But in the end, the majority of us look to others to help us find a way through the struggles of life.