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Table 1 Collective Trauma-Theoretical model

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

Disasters

Causal Conditions

X

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