Mass trauma events, such as war, political violence, torture, and natural disasters, raise important issues of concern to mental and public health professionals, social and political scientists, human rights workers, international law experts, policymakers, media, and the public in general. I have started this blog to provide informed / evidence-based opinion on some of these issues, drawing on my 20 years of research into mass trauma (detailed in our Istanbul Center for Behavior Research and Therapy website).
I am planning on writing about topical issues that are likely to be of concern to a wide readership, including professionals or organizations concerned with mass trauma survivors, media, and the public. These include, but are not limited to, psychosocial impact of wars, torture, and natural disasters, current state of knowledge in rehabilitation of survivors, recent advances in facilitating individual and collective recovery from mass trauma, and definitional issues surrounding torture.
As the launch of this blog coincided with the disasters in New Zealand and Japan I have focused on psychological effects of earthquakes and their effective treatment. In future posts I will write about issues relating to war and torture trauma.
