The loss and restoration of community: The treatment of severe war trauma

Abstract

Abstract One of the most devastating outcomes of trauma is the violation of trust and the subsequent loss of the survivor's sense of community. War is the breakdown of the very concept of community. The acts of war may leave combatants questioning their own suitability for community membership and the community rejecting them as members. Severe trauma also destroys the ability to trust to the extent that the conditions necessary for conducting therapy may no longer exist. Creating an infrastructure to conduct therapy requires that professionals actively demonstrate trust in their own community as a model. Survivors may engage and test the trustworthiness of the professional community before therapy can proceed.