Psychological Intervention for Disorders Stemming from Mass Violence and Genocide: A Case of Kurdish Survivors

Abstract

Mass violence and genocide, as human calamities, have always been under scrutiny ofscientist and researchers in various fields. Yet, due to the vast irreparable nature of thesetragedies, they are still under continues investigation. They are different branches ofpsychology dealing with these behaviors from different perspective. To this end, the mentaldisorders of violence Survivors, as well as roots, causes, and conductive factors of massviolence, have been thoroughly studied. Of course, treating and assisting survivors sufferedfrom such kind of violence have been neglected so far. This is more evident in the MiddleEast and especially Kurdistan, despite various occasions of genocide and mass violence in theregion.Consequently, the present study utilizes a descriptive-analytical approach to review andanalyze the existing scientific documents and to introduce treatments for disorders insurvivors of genocide and collective violence. To this end, more than 20 research papers andrelevant books have been reviewed and analyzed. Results have showed that differentapproaches like, PET, EMDR, CBT, and TAT were successfully administered to the patients.Finally, in the conclusion section, some therapeutic approaches in accord with socio-culturalcondition in Kurdistan are suggested to treat the genocide and collective violence survivors.