A Study of Psychosocial Challenges of Army Personnel Widow "War Begins After Its End (original) (raw)
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The history of our glorious nation has had many instances of invasions by foreign enemies, and every time, they funnelled into our country through the land of five rivers, Punjab. India after independence has gone through 4 major wars viz. In 1962In , 1965In , 1971 and Kargil war in 1999. The martyrdom of Indian soldiers left behind widows and orphan children. This study aims to share the pains and challenges of widows from Financial, Legal, Psychological and Social perspective. This research of 51 case studies of 'Veer Narees' (war widows), presently residing in Punjab, revealed that majority of them had to suffer because of social and family discriminations.
Psychological Distress Among War Widows: A Study of Punjab
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022
Mental health is among important public health issues as it is a major contributor (14%) to the global burden of diseases worldwide. Widows are at higher risk of mental health problems due to gender disadvantaged factors such as lack of family support, financial dependence, single parenting and stereotypes related to remarriage. The present study aims to examine the level of psychological distress of war widows. This study includes 51 war widows between the age range of 40-80 years presently residing in Punjab. Psychological distress was assessed by administering Dass-21 (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Descriptive analysis was used and t test was applied to study the significant mean difference related to psychological distress and remarriage. Further, the Focus Group Discussions were conducted to understand and identify the reasons of high psychological distress present amongst the respondents. It was found that majority of the respondents have mild to moderate psychological distress and widows who were re married are less stressful as compared to who are not remarried .
Women Victims of Armed Conflict: Half-widows in Jammu and Kashmir
Sociological Bulletin, 2012
Introduction: Disappearance or enforced disappearance happens when a person comes in contact with an armed group (state and non-state), he is taken into custody against his/her will and his whereabouts become unknown. This phenomenon is very common in conflict situations. It has been experienced in all countries facing the conflict between security forces of the state and anti-state militants. Likewise, in Kashmir, the Armed Conflict situation from the year 1989 has resulted in many enforced disappearances. Methodology: Mixed methodology was adopted wherein both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection was used. The data for the study was collected from half-widows (N=109) hailing from District Baramulla of Kashmir valley using purposive sampling method. The psychological issues were studied using Trauma Symptom CheckList -40 and in-depth interviews were carried out with half-widows to understand their issues in depth. Results: The study revealed that all the respondents developed the psychological distress. Majority of the half-widows report anxiety, palpitations, sleep disorders, and lack of interest in everyday activities along with various psychosocial problems. Conclusion: Majority of the respondents have moderate to severe symptoms of dissociation, anxiety, depression and sleep disturbances along with other psychosocial issues or problems. They face the double burden of living with the uncertainty about the fate of their husbands and the challenges which are posed to her for ensuring not only the survival of her dependents but also a life of dignity for herself.
Half-Widows in Kashmir: A Psychosocial Study
Indian Journal of Psychiatric Social Work
Introduction: Disappearance or enforced disappearance happens when a person comes in contact with an armed group (state and non-state), he is taken into custody against his/her will and his whereabouts become unknown. This phenomenon is very common in conflict situations. It has been experienced in all countries facing the conflict between security forces of the state and anti-state militants. Likewise, in Kashmir, the Armed Conflict situation from the year 1989 has resulted in many enforced disappearances. Methodology: Mixed methodology was adopted wherein both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection was used. The data for the study was collected from half-widows (N=109) hailing from District Baramulla of Kashmir valley using purposive sampling method. The psychological issues were studied using Trauma Symptom Check-List-40 and in-depth interviews were carried out with half-widows to understand their issues in depth. Results: The study revealed that all the responde...
Women and Armed Conflict: Widows in Kashmir
2014
The armed conflict in the state of J and K has touched the lives of all the people living in the Valley in some way or the other. Though, many women have become direct and indirect victims of this conflict. They have faced violence either indirectly in the form of loss/death of near and dear ones or become the direct victims of torture, assault etc. The paper is a sociological account of the experiences of the women who have lost their husbands to this Conflict going on in the Valley from the last two decades. The researcher utilizes the research tools of in-depth interview to understand and highlight the loss, deprivation and social stigma faced by these women which has more or less become a 'Social Reality' of their lives. It focuses on the personal narratives of these women highlighting the multiple experiences of deprivation and loss faced by them. The social stigma faced by these widows is also analyzed but at the same time, the paper highlights an important fact that in the struggle for survival these women have emerged stronger and an overwhelming majority of them is heading the households they live in.
Widowhood among Muslim Women: Living Experiences of Conflict and Suffering in Kashmir
The patriarchal formulations of appropriate behavior for widows of different castes are reflected and are structurally integrated into the ideology and material relations of the caste system. The status of marginalized widows in different classes, castes, regions and religions of the different parts of the country has been analyzed. Widows are compelled to experience the difficulties and insecurity such as limited choice of remarriage, gender division of labor limiting the job opportunities, strong patrilineal family structure and pitiable economic support. It can thus be concluded from the above discussion that widowhood marks a transition from marital status which is not smooth, for it means not only a loss of status but also a loss of pride, privilege, prestige and independence. Widowhood brings about severe social, economic and cultural deprivation. It may have deleterious effects not only because of sudden loss of spouse but because of lack of well defined cultural expectations regarding the role of widow. Although various efforts are made to work towards the reformation in order to improve the conditions of widows. But still, glaring gender discrimination exists over the centuries. Particularly for the widows in India who are facing a lot of problems and hardships in the family as well as the society because of traditional norms, cultural practices and beliefs within the society. Being in Kashmir, the widows face a triple layer of oppression – first being the Muslim women, second being the widow and third living in an armed conflict situation. The multiple layers of oppression increases the vulnerability and hence socially ostracizes them. Hence, the structure of widowhood among Kashmiri Muslims is used as a means of their cultural reproduction and there prevails the stigma amounting to widowhood especially for the armed conflict victimized widows. This study tries to understand and describe the lived experiences of Muslim widows in Kashmir. This study is further designed to focus on the problems and sufferings faced by them in the current scenario by trying to evaluate the impact of socio-cultural, religious and political factors on the widows' experiences. Finally, this study seeks to explore the programmes and policies run by government for safeguarding the welfare of the widows of Kashmir.
Living with Loss and Hope: Reflections from a Research with Widows in Kashmir
Indian Journal of Sustainable Development, 2018
In the context of intractable conflicts, women face the consequences of deaths and disappearances of their husbands at various levels. However, this may not be known or understood by each of those who share opinions about national safety and security. In the process of forming and propagating our judgments about political conflicts, it is important to reflect upon the extent of one's knowledge about lives of people from conflict zones. This paper, through some of the narratives of women from Kashmir, urges readers to know more about the context of conflict instead of believing in assumptions that may have been promoted through popular media. This paper is based on my research that focused on resilience among women widowed due to conflict in Kashmir.
The Detrimental Saga of Social Abandonment and Persecution Related To Widows in India
"No woman should lose her status, livelihood or property when her husband dies."-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,23 June 2014. Women in India have long been considered one of the most disadvantaged groups in society. The position of girls, particularly widows, may be traced back to the post-Vedic era, when widows were required to participate in socio-religious activities and ceremonies. They were seen as unlucky depending on the circumstances. As a result, widows from marginalized populations have been subjected to harsher restrictions. They face a variety of issues, but there are policies and programs in place to help them improve their social standing. The main goal of this monograph is to understand widowhood in Indian society. Widowhood as seen through the years, widows' socio-cultural and psychological situations, issues of widowhood, widow empowerment, widow property rights, the importance of spiritual locations for widows, and initiatives resulting in improvements in widows' status are all considered. The goal of this study is to paint a picture of the situation of female-headed households across the world, as well as the challenges that widows face. It also attempts to raise awareness of the difficulties and troubles that widows confront in today's world. There is a remarkable absence of feminist, scholarly literature on widows in India. In order to analyse the challenges that these women confront today, this research emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift in our thinking. The elderly, the bulk of whom are widowed women, have been studied by NGOs. Younger widows and widows without children, on the other hand, are often overlooked in this type of activity. Even the percentage of women who are widowed is usually unknown. There is also an alarming paucity of knowledge and reliable statistics on widowhood in armed conflict, farmer suicide, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In order to inform and advise policymakers and planners, adequate quantitative and qualitative data is necessary.In developed or industrialized countries, data is more easily available than in developing or least developed ones. One of the most major impediments to influencing legislation and programs that deal with widows' status. In many developing nations, census data collection procedures are not designed to uncover widowhood discrepancies or to emphasize the unpaid economic contribution that widows of all ages provide to society. If widows are homeless or often travel between multiple residences escorted by family, they may be omitted from national censuses. Furthermore, because poverty surveys tend to mask inequitable distributions of money, land, and other critical resources within and across families, the poverty experienced by individual widows living within households is frequently overlooked. Widows have long been the victims of an unchecked patriarchal culture. Paule Friere (1993) defines this as a culture of silence among the downtrodden that preserves their subjugation. They lack critical awareness, the ability to respond to their dilemma, and even the simple words to reveal it as a result of their despotism. Widowhood is a representation of men's and women's historical power disparities. Despite this, widow care has mostly gone overlooked in the global feminist movement, notably in India.
Widows in Manipur: A Mental Health Perspective
The International Journal of Analytical and Experimental Modal Analysis, 2021
The aim of the study is to assess the symptomatology of PTSD and severity of depression among widowed women. 40 widowed women have been taken as sample for this study through random selection method. Symptoms of PTSD was measured using PCL-5 by National Center for PTSD, USA and for assessing the severity of depression, The Beck Depression Inventort-1A (BDI-1A) by Aaron T, Beck was used. Aim of the study was to know the levels of PTSD and Depression among the participants, in order to achieve this, percentage was used to show levels of variables. And the second phase of this study was to examine the association between variables i,e between the (PTSD and Depression). For this purpose, Pearson correlation was carried out. The findings of the first phase showed 100% of PTSD indicating that all the widowed women participated in this study have PTSD symptoms and also all the participants are found to have severe depression. And the study findings of the second phase showed that, among the widows, the symptoms of PTSD and symptoms of Depression were found to be positively correlated with a weak strength of association. (r = .25, p=.123)Widows who have more symptoms of PTSD also have high symptoms of Depression. The correlation is not statistically significant which shows there is no enough evidence to suggest the correlation observed exist.