Treating trauma

“I was not afraid of being killed. I was afraid of being raped!” – so the testimony of a Kosovarian woman who had been raped by Serb militia men in 1999 during the military escalation.

Sexualised violence, as experienced by women and girls in all war and crisis zones throughout the world, is a massive attack on the personality and the innermost self of the soul. Many women bear these invisible scars for a long time. For not only women in the current war zones of our time, but also the elder women among us know that the war may be over, but the deep wound in the soul remain.

Sexualised violence is a psychological trauma which women have to bear in addition to all the others: the experience of having physically and emotionally surrendered, a tortured body and mind in a situation where war precludes any “normal” sense of security and the psyche is permanently threatened. The psychological trauma, the psychological wound often remains beyond all the other losses and bodily harm and is even intensified by social stigmatisation and isolation.

Aid to survival: Survivors of war and torture usually need multi-facetted and optimum support in order to come to terms with their experiences and to integrate them into a new life. medica mondiale guides and accompanies women in this process. They receive gynaecological and general medical treatment, social and psychological guidance, therapy and support, as well as opportunities to exchange views with others and vocational training. An elementary factor is also making society sensitive to the results of trauma and gender-specific violence.

On these pages, medica mondiale would like to offer information about psychological trauma and sexualised war violence to interested parties and to experts. It would also like to present the approaches developed by medica mondiale on-site as well as relevant indications on further education and networking. You will find answers to questions such as the following:

What is a traumatic experience of the type which women and girls in Bosnia, Kosova, Afghanistan, and other new war zones are subjected to? How does a psychological trauma alter personal consciousness and every-day life?
What are the psychological, social, and physical consequences of trauma? How can women find their way out of silence and isolation through therapy programs and other forms of support?
What criteria for quality can be deduced for the support of women affected in therapy, gynaecology and legal counselling?
What sort of framework is necessary so that survivors of sexualised violence in their countries of origin as well as in exile are not subjected to new traumas and there is a chance of developing a new life perspective?
What offerings of support exist in sheltering countries and in the war regions themselves?
How can those who wish to lend support to women and girls traumatised by war build up a network – in Germany and world-wide?
What opportunities for training and further education in the field of trauma-psycho-therapy and approaches specific to women exist domestically and internationally? What publications are suitable to furthering discussion and knowledge about working with trauma?

We are working on these and other questions. We are dedicated to these themes. You are invited to develop this process further – as guests, as those who taking an interest, and as experts!

This part of our site and our work on the development of quality standards for the theme of “psychological trauma” were to no small extent developed with the support of the Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youths. We would like to express our thanks on behalf of all the women and girls concerned!

Help us to support women in war and crisis zones all over the world by making a donation!