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Those who have experienced hardship and suffering often experience lasting trauma from the experience. Traumatic events can fundamentally change not only victims' way of life, but also their psychological outlook. This is equally true for natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods as it is for man-made catastrophes of terrorism and war. Man-made trauma, however, is often more difficult to deal with, because frequently the perpetrators still live in close proximity to victims -- thereby providing constant reminders of the past, as well as the threat of further incidents. Even if the immediate source of the trauma is removed, time does not necessarily heal all wounds. The survivor may, in fact, continue to suffer, to appear "frozen in time." With conflict remaining an unfortunately common reality for many, techniques have emerged to help trauma victims interpret and heal from their experience.
What is Trauma?
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge -
That myth is more potent than history,
I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts -
That hope always triumphs over experience -
That laughter is the only cure for grief.
And I believe that love is stronger than death."
-- Robert Fulghum taken from http://www.robertfulghum.com/
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Individuals can suffer trauma in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. Trauma sufferers may themselves have seen their homes or communities destroyed or be victims of physical abuse such as rape, torture, or other violence. Trauma can also be induced by serious threat or harm to loved ones.[1] Individuals are often unable to cope with these extreme events, consequently inhibiting both their ability to carry on with life and to function in society. [2]
Trauma can have a range of different cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral effects on individuals.
Cognitive responses include memory difficulties, lack of concentration, poor judgment, inability to discriminate, and inability to make choices.
Emotional responses include depression, withdrawal, excitability, flashbacks, intense fear, feelings of helplessness, loss of control, loss of connection and meaning, generalized anxiety, and specific fears.
Additional insights into trauma healing are offered by Beyond Intractability project participants.
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Physical responses include stomach pains, tightness of the chest, headaches, perspiration, and psychosomatic complaints.
Behavioral responses include irritability, startling easily, hyper-alertness, insomnia, communication difficulties, and drug, cigarette, or alcohol abuse.[3]
All told, victims of violence often feel humiliated, vulnerable, helpless, and that their lives are out of control.[4]
According to Herman, post-traumatic stress commonly manifests itself in three ways.[5]
- First, hyper-arousal arises from continual vigilance in hopes that the experience will not occur again.
- Second, the traumatic memory is omnipresent in the mind of the traumatized. The memory repeatedly occurs as a flashback, which can occur at any time, and the victim is unable to distinguish the memory from actually experiencing the event again.
- Third, traumatized individuals appear to be indifferent in order to mask the feelings of vulnerability and helplessness.
Through its effects on individuals, trauma also has a dramatic influence on communities. For example, when trauma becomes prevalent, society can lose the sense of trust. Trauma also has a way of spiraling out of control. Human rights violations create massive trauma, which can, in turn, fuel additional human rights violations and so on. Feelings of trauma can generate feelings of frustration and revenge that can produce a cycle of violence and also perpetuate feelings of victimhood on all sides of the conflict. Shared trauma generates a "we-feeling," but also creates an "us vs. them" mentality.[6]
Unresolved trauma can also be transmitted across generations.[7] Trauma-induced social divisions can form the basis of historical myths that can come to be a central part of group identity. These myths can be activated consciously or unconsciously and ignite conflict in the future. In Yugoslavia, for example, President Slobodan Milosevic reactivated a historical trauma by disinterring the body of Prince Lazar, who was killed in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, and ceremonially reburying the body in one Serbian village after another. This served to revive the mourning process as if Prince Lazar's death had occurred yesterday. This helped mobilize the population producing renewed conflict and inflicting new trauma.[8]
Healing can prevent future violence and facilitate reconciliation. Staub and Pearlman go so far as to argue that reconciliation is necessary if groups are to live together peacefully. By reconciliation, they mean "coming to accept one another and developing mutual trust. This requires forgiving. Reconciliation requires that victims and perpetrators come to accept the past and not see it as defining the future as simply a continuation of the past, that they come to see the humanity of one another, accept each other and see the possibility of a constructive relationship."[9]
Providing Healing
The ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable. Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. ... Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.[10]
Many argue that trauma will not go away unless it is actively confronted. This is, in turn, contingent on a full airing of the details of the crimes. "Psychological restoration and healing can only occur through providing the space for survivors to feel heard and for every detail of the traumatic event to be re-experienced in a safe environment."[11] At the same time, it should be made clear that the trauma cannot be erased. The goal of trauma healing "is to acknowledge the experience and integrate it into a sort of personal or collective rebirth."[12] As such, trauma healing can contribute to a program of social reconstruction.
Healing requires a focus on the victim. Prosecution is often not feasible in post-conflict situations due to a corrupt judicial system or one that is unable to handle the volume of cases it would be faced with. For the purposes of healing, trials are also poor because they center on the rights of the accused.
Many often assume that truth commissions can provide trauma healing, but this is a potentially dangerous assumption.[13] Truth can provide acknowledgment and validation to be sure. For some, going to commissions and witnessing that they are not alone in their suffering is comforting. However, trauma healing often requires long-term support, and truth commissions on their own cannot provide this. Typically, victims are given a small amount of time to tell their story. What is more, resources are often in short supply, limiting the degree to which follow-up services are available.
Testimonies, memorials, and group ceremonies may be helpful for healing, but there is also risk that these acts could reinforce oppositional identities.[14] Finding common goals to work toward facilitates engagement. Local initiatives seem better able to promote healing. There has been a significant expansion in programs designed to do just this.
Approaches to Trauma Healing
The goal of trauma healing is to give victims a feeling that they have control over their lives again. Herman identifies three stages that trauma victims move through as part of the healing process: safety, acknowledgement, and reconnection.[15] These processes have guided the creation of many trauma healing programs.
The first step for most programs is to provide a safe space. A feeling of safety will encourage victims to open up and reveal details of their ordeal. Retelling the details of one's story can be therapeutic and allows those memories to be incorporated into the victim's life story. When the story is told in the presence of the other, it can lead to acknowledgement, apology, forgiveness, and reconnection. Julia Chaitin describes several such processes in detail in her essay in this knowledge base on Narratives and Story Telling.
Gutlove and Thompson discuss another such project: the Health Bridges for Peace Project[16] That process begins by involving trauma sufferers in "constructive communication," in which they tell their stories and the rest of the group listens attentively, respectfully, and compassionately. Many programs also emphasize the therapeutic value of drawing or writing about their trauma.[17] Then, participants discuss the difference between debate and dialogue with the goal of realizing the latter. Finally, participants are trained in active listening, which both allows the listener to understand and empathize with others and to better articulate one's own thoughts and feelings. This process helps facilitate reconnection with one's social environment and allows the victim to restore their place in society.
The ethnic conflict that erupted in the 1990s unfortunately provided ample opportunity to develop and refine techniques for trauma healing. A brief survey of some of these efforts follows.
In The Former Yugoslavia
Amongst others, the Medical Network has utilized a variety of tools to facilitate healing in the former Yugoslavia.[18] Community Integration aims to empower marginalized groups and help them adapt to the new social context. Volunteer Action on the part of trauma victims is also important because being active and helping others can help restore the feeling of worth in trauma sufferers.
In Rwanda
The horrific genocide in Rwanda has been extremely difficult for survivors to overcome. A new word entered the Rwandan vocabulary in 1994, ihahamuka, which refers to a variety of psychological manifestations thought to originate from the genocide. The word comes from bringing together two words: hana (lungs, respiration) and muka (without).[19] Victims suffered not only from posttraumatic stress disorder, but also from chronic traumatic grief. The latter was widespread a year after the genocide. Because 91 percent?of survivors did not have a chance to bury their relatives or perform mourning ceremonies, and nearly as many had not yet seen the remains of loved ones, the bereavement process has not been allowed to take its natural course.[20]
The importance of tailoring healing techniques to local conditions is exemplified by work done in Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide. Programs utilized writing or drawing about one's experiences, but because Rwanda is an oral society, reflection and discussion in small groups about their writing and drawing proved useful. Lectures were also conducted to help victims understand why the genocide occurred, what effects these types of experiences can have on individuals and communities, and how healing can be achieved.[21] A series of radio programs was also produced and broadcast around the country to help people understand and deal with their feelings.[22]
The best evidence supports the continued use of these types of programs. Surveys conducted two months after the end of treatment indicated trauma scores significantly lower for a group treated through integrated community programs, relative to a control group.[23] The treatment group also exhibited "conditional forgiveness," in other words, a willingness to forgive perpetrators, provided they acknowledge what they have done.
Those With Unique Trauma Healing Needs
Women and Children
Women are often in particular need of trauma healing. They may themselves be victims of traumatic experiences such as rape or incest. However, they are also more likely to be left behind after husbands and children are killed in conflict. Women are often humiliated, feeling that they could do nothing to stop the violence. What is more, the loss of a husband or children can make it difficult for women to provide for their families, thereby adding further humiliation.
Children also face particularly difficult trauma. They lack the emotional development and life experience to make sense of the trauma, even more so than adults. Jarman observes in Chechnya that traumatic events often produce rage in teenagers due to the fact that their lives have been turned upside-down; they've essentially been robbed of their youth.[24] Children are also susceptible to picking up attitudes from adults in their lives, thereby providing the opportunity for trauma to be transmitted across generations. For this reason, it is particularly important to focus on children in the healing process.
Practitioners
It should be noted that trauma healing can have adverse effects on listeners, those helping victims recover. This is because the terrible stories can have a psychological effect, particularly as story after story piles up in the listener's memory. In truth commissions, for example, commissioners and staff have reported suffering secondary trauma at having heard the harrowing stories of victims.[25] What is more, in trauma healing programs in Yugoslavia, those who worked to aid trauma victims developed feelings of trauma not only through exposure to stories, but also by being present in the environment that gave rise to the original victims' trauma.[26]
[1] Hugo van der Merwe and Tracy Vienings, "Coping with Trauma," in Peacebuilding: A Field Guide, Luc Reychler and Thania Paffenholz, eds. (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, Inc., 2001), 343.
[2] Gutlove, Paula and Gordon Thompson, eds. Psychosocial Healing: A Guide for Practitioners. (Cambridge, MA: Institute for Resource and Security Studies, May 2003). http://www.irss-usa.org/pages/documents/PSGuide.pdf
[3] Gutlove and Thompson 2003.
[4] van der Merwe and Vienings 2001, 345.
[5] Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery (New York: Basic Books, 1997), 35.
[6] United States Institute of Peace. 2001. Training to Help Traumatized Populations, Special Report 79. http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr79.html
[7] Ervin Staub and Laurie Anne Pearlman 2002 CREATING PATHS TO HEALING http://www.heal-reconcile-rwanda.org/lec_path.htm
[8] United States Institute of Peace. 2001. Training to Help Traumatized Populations, Special Report 79. http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr79.html
[9] Ervin Staub and Laurie Anne Pearlman 2000. Healing, Reconciliation and Forgiving after Genocide and Other Collective Violence http://www.restorativejustice.org/rj3/Reviews/Helmick/collectiveviolence.htm.
[10] Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery (New York: Basic Books, 1992), 1. Emphasis in original.
[11] Brandon Hamber, "Do Sleeping Dogs Lie? The Psychological Implications of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa," seminar presented at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Johannesburg, July 26, 1995, 4-5.
[12] Gutlove and Thompson 2003.
[13] Hayner, Priscilla B. Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. Routledge, 2001.
[14] Ervin Staub and Laurie Anne Pearlman 2000. Healing, Reconciliation and Forgiving after Genocide and Other Collective Violence http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~gubin/rwandasup/tempchap.htm
[15] Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery (New York: Basic Books, 1992).
[16] Gutlove and Thompson 2003.
[17] Ervin Staub and Laurie Anne Pearlman 2000. Healing, Reconciliation and Forgiving after Genocide and Other Collective Violence http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~gubin/rwandasup/tempchap.htm
[18] Gutlove and Thompson 2003, 16-23.
[19] Athanase Hagengimana. 2001. After Genocide in Rwanda: Social and Psychological Consequences. http://www.isg-iags.org/newsletters/25/athanse.html
[20] Athanase Hagengimana. 2001. After Genocide in Rwanda: Social and Psychological Consequences. http://www.isg-iags.org/newsletters/25/athanse.html
[21] Ervin Staub and Laurie Anne Pearlman 2000. Healing, Reconciliation and Forgiving after Genocide and Other Collective Violence http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~gubin/rwandasup/tempchap.htm
[22] The radio programs http://www.labenevolencija.org/programs.htm
[23] Jill D. Kester. 2001. From eyewitness testimony to health care to post-genocide healing Successes and Surprises in the Application of Psychological Science. APS Observer Online. (July/August) 14:6. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/0701/pressymp.html
[24] Roswitha Jarman. Healing as part of conflict transformation. CCTS Newsletter 12. http://www.c-r.org/ccts/ccts12/healing.htm
[25] Hayner, Priscilla B. Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. Routledge, 2001.
[26] Gutlove and Thompson 2003.
Use the following to cite this article:
Brahm, Eric. "Trauma Healing." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: January 2004 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/trauma_healing/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience.
Available at: http://www.emu.edu/cjp/star/.
Center for the Study of the Mind and Human Interaction in Charlottesville, VA.
Available at: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/csmhi/.
This site provides an interdisciplenary approach toward psychological impacts of conflict, including trauma. It contains theoretical as well as case specific information.
Creating Paths to Healing.
Available at: http://www.heal-reconcile-rwanda.org/lec_path.htm.
This article discusses ways to help victims move toward psychological healing in the wake of a traumatic experience. The author focuses on the essential elements of respect, information, connection, and hope.
Facing History and Ourselves.
Available at: http://www.facinghistory.org.
This organization is based around helping people to understand the present and future by educating them about the past. It seeks to develop programs that would allow students to think critically about the past by emphasizing morality in history. The website has links to new articles discussing current world events and also provides resources for understanding these events. There are also resources like academic articles, films, books, and teaching tools provided at this site.
Jarman, Roswitha. "Healing as Part of Conflict Transformation." CCTS Newsletter, Number 12, Spring 2001 , 2001
Available at: http://www.c-r.org/ccts/ccts12/healing.htm.
This article explores how outsiders coming in to war-torn regions can contribute to healing the personal and interpersonal hurt of individuals and groups and thereby contribute to the process of conflict transformation.
Gutlove, Paula and Gordon Thompson. Psychosocial Healing: A Guide for Practitioners. Institute for Resource and Security Studies.
Available at: http://www.irss-usa.org/pages/documents/PSGuide.pdf.
This practitioner guide describes the use of trauma healing and related psychological and social-support activities as methods for developing a stable, peaceful, and functional society in a post-conflict environment. The authors describe the approach as "psychosocial tauma healing for post-conflict reconstruction." The shorter twerm, "psychosocial healing" is used throughout. The work presents practical advice on how mechanisms to promote social reconstruction through psychosocial healing can be implemented.
Social Psychological Aspects of Peacebuilding.
Available at: Click here for more info.
This page presents a general discussion of the importance of examining social psychological impacts of conflict on individuals and society. It is argued that if psychology drives the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and their collectivities, then emphasis must be placed on understanding the psychology of conflict and its consequences. This page includes discussions of identity, perceptions, and trauma and healing.
United States Institute of Peace. Training to Help Traumatized Populations.
Available at: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr79.html.
This report discusses components that are essential for training programs aimed at preparing people to help populations traumatized by violent conflict.
Offline (Print) Sources
Minow, Martha L. Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
This book looks at the capacity and limitations of formal national responses to genocide, systematic rapes, and mass torture. Such responses have come in the form of legal proceedings, truth commission, reparations, and memorials, and give rise to questions about retributive justice, forgiveness, and healing.
van der Merwe, Hendrik, John Keegan and Tracy Vienings. "Dealing with the Past and Imagining the Future: Coping with Trauma." In Peacebuilding: A Field Guide. Edited by Reychler, Luc and Thania Paffenholz, eds. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001.
Trauma is a response to an extraordinary event that overwhelms an individuals? coping resources and makes it difficult for that individual to function effectively in society. The author discusses the psychological effects of trauma and outlines three phases of working through trauma.
Staub, Ervin and Laurie Anne Pearlman. "Healing, Reconciliation and Forgiving after Genocide and Other Collective Violence." In Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy, and Conflict Transformation. Edited by Petersen, Rodney L. and Raymond G. Helmick, eds. Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press, 2001.
This chapter will explore the impact of collective violence on victims and, to some degree, on perpetrators as well. It will consider the role of healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation in building a better future in societies in which such violence had taken places. As a primary example, the chapter will focus on Rwanda, where the authors have been conducting a project on healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Puljek-Shank, Amela and Randy Puljek-Shank. "Journey of Healing." In Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding: A Resource for Innovators. Edited by Whitney, Diana, ed. et al. Washington DC: Pact Publications, 2003.
"Drawing from interviews with peacebuilding practitioners and the personal experiences of the authors, this chapter explores the healing of trauma as part of the positive core of peacebuilding. By examining examples of healing moments, rituals, metaphors, and conceptual models it attempts to answerthe question, "How does healing take place?" An unanticipated theme that emerges is the contribution of nonverbal forms of understanding (symbols, images, and ritual acts) to the conditions that foster healing. The chapter concludes by using the five principles of Appreciative Inquiry to examine its relevance for understanding and strengthening the conditions under which healing takes place."
Weinstein, Harvey M. and Eric Stover, eds. My neighbor, my enemy: justice and community in the aftermath of ethnic cleansing. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Tackling the crucial issue of our day--the rebuilding of countries following ethnic cleansing and genocide, this book evaluates the role of trials and tribunals with regard to social reconstruction and reconciliation. The voices of the people of Rwanda and Yugoslavia are heard through the results of extensive surveys and recorded conversations. Their thoughts of past and future controversially conclude that international and local trials have little relevance to reconciliation. The contributors find that communities interpret justice far more broadly than defined by the international community and the relationship of trauma to a desire for trials is not clear-cut. An ecological model of social reconstruction is proposed, suggesting that coordinated multi-systematic strategies must be implemented if social repair is to occur. Finally, the contributors suggest that, while trials are essential to combat impunity and punish the guilty, their strengths and limitations must be acknowledged.-Amazon
Montiel, Cristina Jayme. "Political Trauma and Recovery in a Protracted Conflict: Understanding Contextual Effects." Peace and Conflict 6:2, June 1, 2000.
This article covers the psychological impact of protracted wars and unstable political bases, and steps towards healing. Four propositions are addressed: "(a) traumatizing experiences are not only episodic but also systemic, extending over many years; (b) context may also function as a source of healing; (c) healing efforts do not take place in war-free and comfortable contexts but rather in unsafe and impoverished conditions; and (d) trauma survivors are not only victims and effects, but also empowered transformers and causes of contextual change. " These four points are shown through cases in the Philippines.
Sider, Nancy Good. "Transcendence: Discovering Resources for Posttraumatic Healing and Growth." In Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding: A Resource for Innovators. Edited by Liebler, Claudia, ed. et al. Washington DC: Pact Publications, 2003.
"Appreciative interviews with peacebuilders who have survived trauma provide the context for this exploration of posttraumatic healing and growth. The author presents an adapted appreciative interview approach that balances the need to acknowledge traumatic experiences with the equally important need to identify the sources of resilience and resources for growth needed to transcend trauma. The chapter sets the interview findings in a broader context by looking at shifts toward positive, strengths-based approaches emerging in several related fields, and describes applications of positive-growth approaches in trauma work, known as "posttraumatic growth." It then explores the peacebuilders' interviews for insights into the processes and resouces for transcending trauma. In so doing, it shows appreciative interviewing to be an essential discovery tool for retrieving such stories of transcendence, expanding the language of hope, and enhancing the pursuit of posttraumatic healing and growth for both survivors and caregivers."
Herman, Judith. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books, January 1, 1992.
This book looks at causes, implications and ways of overcoming victimhood in a range of post-conflict situations.
Hayner, Priscilla B. Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror & Atrocity. New York: Routledge, September 1, 2001.
Hayner provides a very accessible account of why a country would opt to create a truth commission. She provides a balanced discussion on the healing power of truth. Our understanding on this point is hazy, as anecdotal evidence exists both for and against. However, she does agree with the view that an unaddressed past can fester. Click here for more info.
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
Hagengimana, Athanase. After Genocide in Rwanda: Social and Psychological Consequences. Harvard School of Public Health Refugee Trauma Program/ University of Rwanda.
Available at: http://www.isg-iags.org/oldsite/newsletters/25/athanse.html.
The article is based primarily on interviews Dr. Hagengimana, a psychiatrist, did in Rwanda after the genocide which are reported in different psychiatric journals.
Rwanda: Advancing Healing and Reconciliation - The Healing through Connection and Understanding Project.
Available at: http://www.heal-reconcile-rwanda.org/.
"The genocide of 1994 in Rwanda has deeply affected everyone in the society. We have developed an approach to helping people heal that may be helpful in varied settings, with varied groups of people. This approach is based on research, theory, and past applied work in the realms of trauma, genocide, and related domains. Part of our project researches how best to help people heal and reconcile."
Honwana, Alcinda. "Sealing the Past, Facing the Future: Trauma Healing in Rural Mozambique." Accord, Vol. 3 , 1998
Available at: http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/mozambique/past-future.php.
Scroll down the page and click on "Sealing the Past, Facing the Future." This article discusses the fragility of the recently-established peace in rural areas of Mozambique and calls for some final steps to be taken in the resolution of the conflict there. The article focuses on extending the benefits of peace to rural areas where local, indigenous people are suffering from severe war-related trauma and are in need of culturally-sensitive therapy.
The Radio Programs.
Available at: http://www.labenevolencija.org/wordpress/?page_id=4.
Provides a summary of a series of radio programs based on the work of Ervin Staub and Laurie Pearlman that were broadcast in Rwanda in an effort to promote healing.
Colvin, Christopher J. "We Are Still Struggling:Storytelling, Reparations and Reconciliation after the TRC." , 2000
Available at: http://www.csvr.org.za/papers/papcolv.htm#introduction.
"Since the inception of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 'healing' and reconciliation have gained prominence as key elements of a particular model of socio- political transformation being articulated in South Africa. Though by no means universally accepted, an emphasis on the ideas of healing and reconciliation formed the focus of much of the TRC's self-presentation, the government's support for the TRC and the media's representation of its work...however, there remain 'few institutionalized post-TRC spaces for South Africans to practically engage with personal memories and the apartheid past' (Kayser, 2001, p. 3). This report considers one of those institutionalized spaces: the Cape Town Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture and the Western Cape Branch of the Khulumani Support Group that grew out of the work of the Trauma Centre."
Offline (Print) Sources
Hemmer, Bruce. "Bottom-Up Peacebuilding in Bosnia." PARC News Spring, 1997.
This article argues for empowering Bosnians with the means and tools to build a democratic civil society. It also maintains that peace building and reconciliation processes need to support these empowerment initiatives. Click here for more info.
Humphrey, Michael. From Terror to Trauma: Commissioning Truth for the National Reconciliation.
This article discusses the use of South Africa's TRC as a way of shifting the national pain brought on by apartheid from one of terror to trauma. Humphrey argues that South Africa believed that the nation, like individuals, can more easily deal with trauma than terror. Through truth telling (testimony), the adjustment from terror to trauma can take place. However, he argues that the formula "revealing is healing" is essentially incorrect because all individuals handle trauma in very different ways. He summarizes as follows: "the danger is that as set piece ritual strategies for national reconciliation, truth commissions produce abstracted and homogenized outcomes that become increasingly dissonant with the lives people are living. While the TRC will no doubt come to be seen as an historic event in the transition in South African national identity it cannot actually heal the suffering of individuals. Reconciliation is a partnership which re-establishes the basis for community life, not something conceded by the victims (24)."
Staub, Ervin. "Genocide and Mass Killing: Origins, Prevention, Healing, and Reconciliation." Political Psychology 21:2, 2000.
This article focuses on intense collective violence, especially mass killing and genocide. It briefly presents a conception of their origins, with new elements in the conception and comparisons with other approaches. Various aspects of genocide and mass killing are considered, including their starting points (such as difficult life conditions and group conflict), cultural characteristics, psychological and social processes (such as destructive ideologies), the evolution of increasing violence and its effect on perpetrators and bystanders, and the roles of leaders and of internal and external bystanders. Actions that might be taken by the community of nations and other actors to halt or prevent violence are described. In considering prevention there is a focus on processes of healing within previously victimized groups and reconciliation between hostile groups. A project on healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation in Rwanda is briefly described.
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