Inappropriate exporting of Western culture may cause additional harm

EDITOR,--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 …