Rebuilding Hope on Josina machel island: Towards a Culturally Mediated Model of Psychotherapeutic Intervention (original) (raw)

In the past few decades, there has been a growing interest in understanding the cultural dimensions of psychology (Bruner, 1984;. This work, along with the experiences of psychologists working with communities under war-time duress and in the immediate post-war context, has forced us to re-think our understanding of trauma and psychotherapeutic intervention; that is, we are beginning to recongnize the role of culture in what constitutes a traumatic experience, how people explain and understand the sources of their trauma, how these experiences are elaborated and manifested in pychological disturbances, and even the solutions people look for to deal with situations of extreme duress (di Giroloamo, 1993;. In particular, we are beginning to recognize the limitations of conventional views of psychotraumatiology developed in the west when attempting to develop psychotherapeutic interventions in crosscultural contexts. In the African context, for example, Dawes and Honwana (1998) suggest that we need to think more holistically to the traumatized individual-in context, for it is only in this way that psychologists can understand the meaning which the individual brings and gives to a stressful experience. Moreover, it is only from this perspective that we can understand the resources available to an individual for dealing with a traumatic event. From this broader cultural context, it may become apparent, as Honwana (1997) reveals, that there are many more healing resources avaliable not only to the individual, but also to the psychologist. Indeed, psychologists may soon discover that, as healers, the "medicine" of western psychotherapy may have little currency in certain contexts, particularly if they assume that they are the only healers available to individuals and communities in crisis.