Academic Resources (3 Matches)
Source: Brandon Hamber and Richard Wilson, Journal of Human Rights 1, no. 1 This article challenges the notion that truth commissions heal nations. Primary issues discussed include: a questioning of the ideas that a nation has a collective psyche and that ‘revealing is healing’; the juxtaposition of national and individual trauma; reparations as an acknowledgement of wrongdoing or trauma endured, including issues of reburials and payments; public testimony and symbolic closure; truth commissions and the liminality of the dead or disappeared; truth commissions’ favoring of national reconciliation and justice and the suppression of individuals’ feelings of revenge; and a case study on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The authors argue that truth commissions do not heal a nation as individuals do not have a collective psyche, but, rather, they provide a public space to tell subjective truths that may, among other processes, contribute to one form of closure.
Source: Maurice Eisenbruch, Social Science and Medicine 33, no. 6 This article describes the benefits of using cultural bereavement as a model for trauma diagnosis in refugees. Primary issues discussed include: the drawbacks of using the western application of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in diagnosing psychiatric disorders; that cultural bereavement considers what trauma means to refugees, their cultural recipes that signify distress, strategies to overcome it and cultural interpretations of symptoms that may be similar to PTSD; how cultural bereavement may identify people who have PTSD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) but whose condition is a sign of normal rehabilitation; and a case study on Cambodian refugees. The author argues that refugees’ symptoms of psychiatric disorders are often culturally determined and a reflection of a communal experience. He notes that such symptoms can contribute to proper outcome measures in refugee mental health and concludes that cultural bereavement can improve accuracy in diagnosis among refugees by minimizing the mislabeling of psychiatric disorders.
Source: Roberto Beneduce, University of TurinThis article examines the structural inadequacies of western models of psychology and psychiatry in other cultural contexts in as much as they are based on universal presuppositions of what should preside in human relations and crisis interventions. Primary issues discussed include: the transitions from which contemporary sciences of trauma take their modern moves; the nature of war today; the experience of child soldiers exercising a tactical agency; the redefining of war trauma; the conscious, symbolic and material destruction of culture, religion, language, identity and memory of a population in conflict; and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The author argues that the West’s instruments for dealing with trauma in non-western cultural contexts are limited. He concludes by emphasizing the need to rethink both the presuppositions on which those instruments are based as well as their presumed capacity to adapt to all contexts.
Source: American Psychological Association (APA)The APA is a professional and scientific association of psychologists in the US. Its website provides extensive information and publications on numerous topics in psychology including trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Source: Association Internationale d’EthnoPsychanalyse (AIEP)The AIEP is an association of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers as well as researchers in social sciences (linguists, anthropologists, sociologists…) whose goal is to contribute to a better understanding and healing of mental health and trauma issues in transcultural situations. Part of their work and reflection focuses on psycho-social support for individuals coming from Non-Western countries but they have also developed their work in humanitarian emergencies, in particular in war and post-war contexts. An entire section of the website concerns psychiatric interventions in humanitarian emergencies (in particular in war contexts) and is connected to the work done by the association Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). Different resources regarding research, training and interventions are accessible online and most of them are in English. The rest of the website is in French.
Source: The Child Trauma AcademyThe Child Trauma Academy is a nonprofit organization based in Texas that works to improve the lives of traumatized children and to increase effectiveness in the systems that serve such children. The Academy offers educational materials including training videos and teaching manuals and transitional tools for children, as well as linking to articles and other resources relating to trauma and associated issues.
Policy Analysis and Practitioner Documents (View All 4 Matches)
Source: INCORE, University of UlsterTrauma, Development and Peacebuilding Project, funded by the International Development Research Centre, convened a group of global experts working on trauma and development issues, as well as psychosocial projects, at an international conference in Delhi, India in September 2008. Through the presentation of theoretical and regional overviews, and individual case studies, the roundtable sought to analyse, critique, and disaggregate different approaches to trauma globally considering its impact on peacebuilding and development processes in societies coming out of conflict.
Source: World Health Organization, The Inter-Agency Standing CommitteeThis document aims to provide guidelines that will enable humanitarian actors to plan, establish and set minimum multi-sectoral responses to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in the midst of an emergency, such as armed conflicts and natural disasters. Primary issues discussed include: mental health and the psychosocial impact of emergencies; establishing coordination of intersectoral support; assessing issues and initiating participatory evaluation systems; protection and human rights standards; recruiting staff and community mobilization; health services, education and dissemination of information; food security and nutrition; and culturally-sensitive site planning. The WHO states that these guidelines provide essential information on how to facilitate an integrated approach to programs that addresses the most urgent mental health and psychosocial issues in emergency situations.
Source: Judy Barsalou, United States Institute of Peace (USIP)This report summarizes discussions from a conference on trauma and transitional justice. Primary issues discussed include: the influence of politics, time and resource-based constraints on transitional justice programs; the necessity of post-conflict psychological adjustments for both individuals and societies in order to achieve reconciliation; disagreements regarding the process of psychological adjustment programs; the varying impact, both positive and negative, programs have on individuals and society; the difficulty in ascertaining complex truths essential to reconciliation given the tendency of historical narratives to be colored by individuals' perspectives; the importance of culture; third-party outsiders' ability to provide needed expertise; the potential that outsiders could inhibit psychological healing given insensitivity; the role of memorials in aiding recovery from trauma, with consideration given to timing, narratives and political factors; and the difficulty in evaluating the success of programs given the dearth of evaluations on transitional justice programs. The author concludes by emphasizing the need for multiple, long-term programs, cultural mindfulness and recognition of the political nature and implications of programs and their effects on individuals and society.
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