Posits a mental health understanding of the effects of war that suggests that personal recovery is grounded in social recovery. Perhaps the primary impact of war on victims stems from their witnessing the destruction of a social world embodying their history, identity, and values. Medical and mental health professionals are asked to consider whether the suffering of war itself should or should not be framed as a mental health issue. To label the distress triggered by the impact of war as a psychological disturbance is to distort seriously a normal human reaction and, moreover, to increase people’s sense of themselves as passive victims rather than active survivors. Psychiatric models give little acknowledgment to the role of social action and empowerment in promoting mental health. Survivors seek to regain a measure of dignity and control over their environment and then to reconstitute the social, cultural, and economic institutions that make sense to them. Ultimately, a population recovers from war not as recipients of aid or as patients, but as active citizens.
