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Bracken and Petty have put together a series of articles about the proliferation of psychological ‘aid’ based on Western psychological models, in particular of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, to peoples exposed to war and violence. They provide us with a series of articles by doctors, NGO policy makers and academics who have direct experience of working with people who have suffered from war. This collection is clear-sighted, well argued, intelligent and thought provoking. The authors give us a serious analysis of modern war, usually internecine, along with a view of the different ways war is experienced from the perspective of specific cultures. They describe the effect on local communities, children and women. They analyse the Western model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and argue about its relevance for helping these peoples.
I am impressed by the lucid way in which all these authors inter-link their experience and knowledge with theoretical analysis. They also enable us to gain some inkling of, to imagine or empathize with local people, suspending for a while the perspective of the ‘expert’ and the constraints of our own Western identity.
Modern war or combat is increasingly waged against the very fabric of a society. Summerfield's social analysis gives us a deeper understanding of how this is experienced and its impact on communities. We also learn about the social responses to war, torture and exile. Social roles of memory and meaning are discussed and shown to be in contradistinction to psychiatric ideas of traumatic memory. The deconstruction of the concept of PTSD by Bracken is both timely and courageous. The idea of PTSD has become so prolific that it is refreshing to be shown that it is actually symbiotic with the Western conception of the individual. This, along with psychological cognitivism, is contrasted with social connectedness, which in many societies replaces personal achievement. Such a cultural difference has considerable implications fo