Coping with the aftermath of trauma

Adequate survival behaviour is a crucial “gift of nature.” Humans have been fairly successful in reducing the threat to life. Nevertheless, crossing a street or driving a car requires increased alertness in order to survive. Natural disasters such as the recent tsunami and man-made disasters such as war, terrorist attacks, killing, robbing, sexual and physical abuse, and plane crashes show how vulnerable we are. After surviving such an event, people need basics—food, shelter, medical care, and consolation.

Read more

The psychobiology of PTSD: coping with trauma

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the few psychiatric conditions where a specific psychosocial stressor is explicitly tied to etiology. Although a majority of people experience a traumatic event in their life, most of them will not develop PTSD or other mental health problems such as depressive or anxiety disorders. Emotional and neurobiological responses to psychosocial stressors show striking individual variation.

Read more

The Staircase to Terrorism: a Psychological Exploration

To foster a more in-depth understanding of the psychological
processes leading to terrorism, the author conceptualizes
the terrorist act as the final step on a narrowing
staircase. Although the vast majority of people, even when
feeling deprived and unfairly treated, remain on the ground
floor, some individuals climb up and are eventually recruited
into terrorist organizations. These individuals believe
they have no effective voice in society, are encouraged
by leaders to displace aggression onto out-groups,

Read more

Twelve creative ways to foster reconciliation after violence

Based on his experience as a mediator in many conflict areas, the author discusses twelve approaches to reconciliation. He concludes that no single approach is capable f handling the complexity of the situation after violent events, thus combining approaches makes more sense. The parties involved in the conflict should be invited to discuss these approaches and therefore be able to arrive at the best combination for their own situation.

Key words: conflict theory, peace work, reconciliation

 

Read more

Reconciliation in the aftermath of violent conflict in Rwanda

Reconciliation in the aftermath of the history of violent conflict in Rwanda is approached as part of a set of deeply interrelated issues, such as individual and social suffering, justice, remembering and forgetting, truth-telling accountability, forgiveness, trauma therapy, socio-therapy, human rights, and development. The article is based on literature study, conversaions with people of all walks of life in Rwanda, and six years of research experience in this country of one of the authors.

Read more

Can there be healing without justice? Lessons from the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor

Truth and reconciliation processes initiated in post-conflict countries have several interrelated objectives with the two key aims being to confront past injustices and to heal the suffering caused by such abuses. Structural constraints, however, often limit the extent to which justice can be achieved for all victims and their families. The present report is based on a review of' the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (known by its Portuguese acronym CAVR), a national initiative that was concluded in 2005.

Read more

Empirical criteria for reconciliation in practice

This article illustrates the opinion that a bottom-up recondliatim requires, in addition to a top-down legal and political agreement between the parties, a complementary educational and social-psychological process. After an intractable conflict such a process will help the people involved to work through and let go of hatred, the desire for revenge, the mistrust, and the pain that were imprinted as a result of the conflict. A successful synchronisation of these two processes could diminish the danger of a renewed outburst of violence.

Read more

Reconciliation - The wrong track to peace?

The article discusses the shortcomings of the current theory and practice of reconciliation and explores the possibilities of addressing the complex social and psychological processes involved in dealing with the past:.

Key words: ambivalence, conflict capacity, denial, imperialism, impunity, grieving process, reconciliation

Introduction

Read more

Preventing difficulties

Every program runs into difficulties or must cope with difficult situations. These can vary from conflicts with staff members of the partner organisation, to the inability of participants to cross military checkpoints, or even engine trouble with the buses bringing the participants. There are some preventative measures that could prove useful:

Read more

The impact of the program

Introduction

The impact of community-based programs is always difficult to evaluate. This is true in particular, as programs are not targeted to treat a narrow range of symptoms, or on other isolated and easily quantifiable phenomena. Programs are based on the assumption is that they will have broad impact within a large context.

Read more

Pages