Letters
Debriefing after psychological trauma
Inappropriate exporting of Western culture may cause additional harmEDITOR,--Trauma is a growth industry in the West and thus fertile terrain for fashion. Beverley Raphael and colleagues note that debriefing after psychological trauma, which they call a social movement, is being widely instituted in advance of objective evidence of efficacy.1 I wish to highlight one aspect with considerable implications: the export of Western psychological practices of this kind to various peoples affected by war worldwide.2
Rwanda is a good example. The first flows of destitute Tutsi refugees into Tanzania had scarcely abated when various aid organisations in the West were deciding from afar what was a priority--namely, "counselling." Projects were implemented without prior consultation with the refugees themselves or knowledge of their cultural norms and frameworks for psychological health, which are so different from those in the West. The experience of war is a collective one; processing it is a
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- Does debriefing after psychological trauma work?
- Beverley Raphael, Lenore Meldrum, and A C Mcfarlane
BMJ 1995 310: 1479-1480.[Extract] [Full Text]
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