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Newsletter
Vol. II, No. III.
Fifteenth Issue,
April 2003
ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT
AN OPEN PLEA TO MENTAL HEALTH COLLEAGUES EVERYWHERE
We, the World Islamic Association of Mental Health who have many members in the helping professions in the Middle East, feel an obligation to remind our colleagues everywhere that we need to look at the war in Iraq from many perspectives, not just from what is being stated in the media. We are especially concerned about the long-term consequences of what is currently happening in our region. While the matter of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq remains inconclusive, and the global and financial implications of the current situation are not predictable, the short and long-term consequences of war are clear and have been demonstrated too many times to be questioned. Aside from the overall breakdown of societies and the physical destruction to infrastructures and property, we urge our colleagues to think again of the severe and long-lasting consequences of war to the population. When it comes to the deep and long-lasting psychological scars for everyone involved, the cost of war is truly incalculable.
There is overwhelming and compelling evidence that violence, death, destruction and occupation are damaging to people of all ages. Those who work with children know from the clinical literature, along with decades of valid studies and detailed clinical material how especially devastating war is for children. One of the basic requirements for children, to develop psychological health, in addition to being loved, is to feel safe. Feeling safe and secure is one of the first losses in war. The continual unpredictability, along with the high level of fear that accompanies it, leads to immediate and long term emotional suffering and traumatization. Imagine, then, being a child surrounded by adults who are petrified, not having any idea what will happen from one moment to the next, hearing bombs and screams and having to focus on survival. Then imagine being that child and dealing with injury and death. Those who have had a mother, father, sibling, child or friend die for any reason, let alone killed by war, know just how traumatizing the death of one person is. For children it is even more devastating and even more incomprehensible Childhood has so much to do with the adults we become!
Children are already hurt and especially vulnerable in Iraq because of the lengthy sanctions. They have been suffering from extremely high rates of child mortality and chronic malnutrition, lack of basic medications and basic necessities and escalating rates of certain kinds of cancer from irradiated bullets. Children do not understand what is happening around them the way adults do: they do not have the same experiences, the same general knowledge, or the same way to integrate events as we do. Abilities to comprehend grow with maturity. When we view the war in Iraq from the perspective of children, we can understand how deeply they are being hurt and damaged. Scarred children grow up to be scarred adults. Many traumatized children will grow up to be filled with depression or filled with anger and rage, or both. We must plan for their wellbeing now and for the future if we want a world that is not a continual battleground. After all, these are the children who will eventually take over the world when we are no longer around.
We, the members of the World Islamic Association of Mental Health, urge our colleagues worldwide to take a strong stand against war and to work tirelessly for the cause of peace. The World Islamic Association of Mental Health thanks you for putting life above borders and mental health above political interests.
Mandy Brauer
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