Gaza Conference: Siege and Mental Health
At the end of October, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme will host its 5th international conference, “Siege and Mental Health: Walls vs. Bridges.” I plan to present a paper, described in this abstract:
Palestinians Under Siege: A Critical Psychology Perspective on Barriers to Mental Health and Justice The drastic mental health consequences of living under siege are well-known. Although specific outcomes vary according to local conditions, besieged communities around the globe experience lethal combinations of restricted movement, physical violence, hunger and disease, and disruptions to schools, hospitals, welfare support systems, and other public and community institutions. In whatever combination these and other factors arise, the common result is widespread mental distress. This paper addresses two primary points from a critical psychology perspective. First, the ordinary assistance that psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other therapeutic professionals offer distressed individuals runs into an obvious problem under siege conditions: individual therapy and similar supports are scarcely sufficient to deal with a situation that requires the restoration of justice. This commonsense observation, which critical psychology applies more generally to the work of mental health workers even under more ordinary circumstances, takes on added significance when injustice transforms healing and recovery from an individual concern to a community effort. Second, a number of politically relevant social-psychological factors interfere with both the development of empathy and the recognition of injustice. These factors dampen global pressure to end the siege and hold Israel to international human rights standards. Two factors are of special importance: the dominant discourse, especially in Israel and the United States, which dismisses Palestinian suffering as self-induced and politically justified; and the corresponding reliance on conflict resolution methods such as dialogue and negotiation that maintain a stance of academic and political neutrality. Ending the siege and the broader conflict require pressing for approaches that acknowledge the existing imbalance of power and suffering as well as the historical and continuing responsibility for injustice.
Buried under too many academic, political, and personal projects and adjustments over the past few months to pay much attention to this blog, lots of email has piled up as well. But I will try to post more regularly in connection with my planned six-week trip to Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank, and I expect to add photos along the way as well. I’d like to write about a few other topics as well when I can find the time.It’s not clear if Israel will allow conference attendees into Gaza. Permits are tricky, so it looks like there may be some teleconferencing from elsewhere in the area. In the meantime, once again I’m trying to brush up on my Arabic as I get ready for my third visit to to Palestine and Israel in the past four years.
Technorati Tags: critical psychology, dialogue, Gaza, Israel, neutrality, Palestine, Reconciliation, social psychology