Collective trauma in the Vanni- a qualitative inquiry into the mental health of the internally displaced due to the civil war in Sri Lanka

Table 1 Collective Trauma-Theoretical model

Disasters	Causal Conditions	Ecological context	Intervening Conditions	Coping strategies	Consequences
Man Made- War	Displacements	Social chaos, uprooting	Insecurity	Silence, Withdrawal, isolation, Benumbing	Dependency, learned helplessness, passivity
Natural- Tsunami	Separations	Breakdown of social structures and institutions	Terror	Suspicion	Distrust, mistrust, paranoia
	Massive destruction	Unemployment, poverty	Impunity, social injustice	'Fight, flight or freeze', Survival, escape, Suicide	Despair, disbelief, amotivation, hopelessness
	Multiple deaths	Starvation, hunger, malnutrition	Breakdown of law and order		Loss of communality, decrease in social cohesion, tearing of social fabric, Loss of social capital
	Injuries	Lack of medical care, diseases, epidemics	Inequity, discrimination	Cultural practices, rituals	Adaptive changes in memory, reframing, meaning, realism
	Cultural & social bereavements	'Repressive ecology', violence, torture, abductions, detentions, disappearances, extrajudicial killings,	Helplessness, hopelessness	Adaptation, facing the challenge, problem solving	Resilience, forbearance, new networks, friendship, relationships, hope
	Losses		Rumours, disinformation		Regeneration, development, progress