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"At the boiling point of the pain":
Report of a pilot study examining the efficacy of psychotherapy for torture
survivors
Amani Trust
May 31, 2002
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Background to the
Study
For the purpose of this report we will not be reviewing the rapidly deteriorating
political situation in Zimbabwe. However, it does form the back-drop for
the following report. In the last two years Zimbabwe has seen as escalating
number of victims of organised violence and torture (OVT) . Since the
Constitutional Referendum in February 2000 many violent acts on human
life have been committed in the run up to the Presidential elections of
March 2002. Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes,
hundreds have been physically and emotionally tortured and more than two
hundred have died as a result. This is the context to the specific situation
we now face. The effects of organised violence on the victims in the current
crisis situation (pre-election period) are not the only concern for Amani
and the Mopane Group. There is also a shared concern for the long-term
effects of widespread social violence in a country that has experienced
three serious outbreaks of similar violence in the past three decades.
Therefore our investigations are motivated by:
- concern for crisis
management of current victims;
- developing and
implementing effective services for longer term care;
- participating with
other organisations in identifying factors which contribute to repetitive
outbreaks of violence of an extreme and repetitive nature.
It was against this
general background that Mopane undertook a pilot project for the Amani
Trust. As a pilot, the aim of the study was not restricted to a specific
research question. The study was designed as open ended and qualitative.
However, within this general proviso, a number of research questions might
be delineated. These included:
- the appropriateness
of a formal counselling service/model for the Amani client population,
- the ways in which
the counselling was affected by the surrounding climate of ongoing violence
and political uncertainty,
- given that each
client was only to be offered a one-off session, what were the resources
inherent in their narratives that might be mobilised to enhance a healing
process,
- and in what ways
were these healing processes enhanced by the experience through counselling
of active witnessing and validation.
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