Family crisis intervention in war contexts: a case study of a traumatised Palestinian family

Sousa

Cavazzoni

2020

Violence Against Women

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Responding to the need for more information concerning the mental health and psychological well-being of women living amid political oppression and war, this study aimed to explore specific factors that contribute to women’s individual and collective perceptions about war and the associated traumatic life events that occurred during their lives. Moving from a socioecological and culture-informed perspective, we used narrative timelines elicited from 21 Palestinian women in Gaza, both individually and collectively, as a tool for both data collection and intervention. A deductive, top-down, thematic content analysis procedure was used to categorize data. The main events outlined by the women in their historical accounts, both individual and collective, were linked to political events in and surrounding Palestine. The life events’ calendars reflect a constant attempt in balancing and compensating traumatic events with sources of well-being related to social support and family. Individual and collective narrative activities contributed to generate a significant reframing in the attribution of meaning and emotional perceptions of the participants. Women articulated how they build resilience through transgenerational and daily practices of resistance that encompass indigenous strategies of coping and skills of survival.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survival and Resilience Among Palestinian Women: A Qualitative Analysis Using Individual and Collective Life Events Calendars

Sousa

Cavazzoni

2020

Violence Against Women

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“…Ongoing situations of trauma lead to a dramatic sense of loss of meaning and the fragmentation of individual and societal identity. Such emotional and cognitive empty spaces are filled by a continuous reliving of traumatic experiences, meaning that individual and social lives may only be read through the lenses of trauma and dispossession (Veronese, Said, & Castiglioni, 2014). Traumatic memories impair the dialogical and integrating functioning of the traumatized self, trapping the victim within a narrow conversational space exclusively informed by fragmented scripts merely focused on survival and protection from uncertainty and emotional disruption (Bolton & Hill, 1996).…”

Section: Narrative Approaches With Children Affected By Warmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After the 2014 war on Gaza, the teachers were invited to take part in a 10-day counseling intervention designed to help them process their own traumatic experience of the conflict. The intervention comprised individual and systemic-group trauma-focused counseling and family-oriented home-based trauma intervention aimed at strengthening resilience and reducing posttraumatic symptoms in teachers (Veronese et al, 2014).…”

Section: Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Healing stories: An expressive-narrative intervention for strengthening resilience and survival skills in school-aged child victims of war and political violence in the Gaza Strip

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

Barola

2018

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Within a preventive framework, we outline a school-based intervention aimed at strengthening skills of survival and psychological functioning in children who have experienced war and political violence in the Gaza Strip. In accordance with a socio-ecological perspective on wellbeing and resilience, the pilot study aimed at evaluating the outcomes of a psychosocial narrative school-based intervention with a group of school-aged children in the aftermath of war. The intervention was oriented at empowering positive emotions, life satisfaction, and optimism in children as protective factors in preventing posttraumatic reactions after war. Findings showed the efficacy of the intervention in favoring life satisfaction in different ecological domains. Children in the intervention group showed greater appreciation for friends, school, family, themselves, and their living environment. At the end of the activity, children were increased the level of positive emotions, but negative feelings were stronger than before the narrative intervention. Clinical implications and future direction or community work are, then, discussed.

“…Ecologically and culturally informed family‐ and community‐based interventions promote salutogenic (Idan, Braun‐Lewensohn, Lindström, & Margalit, ) and healing processes that help in restoring connectedness and improving functioning and adjustment within families and communities affected by extreme violence (Landau, ; Veronese, Said, & Castiglioni, ). Consequently, public health approaches to family and community mental health in war‐affected zones should aim to include the voice of the oppressed in the healing process, integrating where possible therapeutic and human rights‐informed dimensions, both in preventive and recovery programs.…”

Section: The Gaza Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Work in the Ongoing Crisis Context of Gaza: Integrating a Public Health and Human Rights Approach

Diab

ANZ J of Family Therapy

Jamei

et al. 2018

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Moving from socio-ecological perspectives, our work aims to explore and analyse the synergy of public healthand human rights-informed frameworks in the provision of mental health services in The Gaza Strip, a context characterised by war, trauma, and human rights violations over the past several decades. We discuss issues related to human rights violations and link these to the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention in public mental health. Two case studies about families affected by war and violence in 2009 will be analysed to highlight how human rights issues are deeply embedded in interventions aimed at promoting functioning and subjective wellbeing in individuals and families living in conditions of chronic uncertainty. Working with families affected by ongoing political violence requires constant attention to human rights, which goes beyond psychotherapeutic and psychobiological interventions. Mental health services help communities living under occupation by developing resilience and survival skills throughout participative approaches. Directions for clinical work and research are discussed. Key Points1 In conflict zones, family and community are severely affected and rendered dysfunctional. 2 Ecologically and culturally informed family and community-based interventions promote salutogenesis and healing processes within the community. 3 Fostering resilience occurs in the service of human rights and allows citizens to function optimally under the present traumatic reality. 4 Working with families affected by ongoing political violence requires constant attention to human rights. 5 A synergistic approach to human rights and public mental health can reduce symptoms of psychopathology and create active and engaged citizens.