Introduction to trauma rehabilitation after war and conflict

Abstract

This book investigates the topic of individual-level and community-level rehabilitation after war or armed conflict, with an emphasis on human rehabilitation on a psychological and physical level. In this chapter, the multidimensional concept of rehabilitation is explored and the definitions of disability and the multidimensional trauma membrane (intrapsychic, interpersonal, and communal) are described. In addition, the topics of the psychosocial effects of war on individuals and communities and the possible interventions to address the ripple effects of war on individuals and communities are reviewed. This chapter also introduces and references the topics that are explored in other chapters of this book. The present chapter will examine several theoretical models and intervention frameworks that encompass human rehabilitation interventions on both the individual level and the community level. Because rehabilitation interventions consist of processes to facilitate healing on multiple aspects of human life, human rehabilitation in the post-conflict context can help individuals and communities regain their functioning after experiencing severe traumas and numerous losses. © 2010 Springer-Verlag New York.