Death, Tragedy and Community at Wartime Essay Essays

Death, Tragedy and Community at Wartime Essay Essays Death, Tragedy and Community at Wartime Essay Essay Death, Tragedy and Community at Wartime Essay Essay Essay Topic: Woman On the Edge Of Time Diing in War: Deductions for the household. the community and the societal worker Death is a phenomenon that evokes assorted reactions and positions from a community. For some. it a blest release from the tests and jobs of life. To others. it may really good be the terminal of the universe when they lose a loved 1. What remains changeless nevertheless is the heartache. mourning and solitariness experienced by those left buttocks. Even more so when decease was sudden and unexpected as like what happens in times of war. catastrophe. and terrorist onslaughts. Grief goes through many phases. each phase more hard that the last. While most people by and large manage to get by with clip. some experience more troubles and tend to develop psychological and emotional jobs. During the First and Second World Wars. the knock of the mailman was a thing of apprehension. They either brought wires citing the boies and male parents of households for the bill of exchange or wires denoting the decease or loss of loved one. An estimated 8 million military forces in 14 European states were killed in World War I. and 14. 4 million military forces in 17 European states were killed in World War II ( Aiken. 2001. p. 111 ) . Parents who all of a sudden lose their kids such as what happened to most wartime female parents with big boies normally have a harder clip coming to footings with the decease of their kid ( Gilbert. 2005. p. 6 ) . The loss and feelings of weakness and choler can be intense. There is a common belief that something is incorrect when a parent buries his/her kid. Most parents who have experienced this study that they feel dissociation with life and everything merely felt so unreal ( p. 6 ) . That it is non right that parents should last their kids is frequently the idea that haunts bereft parents. What function do societal workers play in times of war and panic? Social jobs are defined as the challenges that face and exist in communities ( Hardcastle. Powers A ; Wenocur. 2004. p. 62 ) . It is the societal worker’s occupation to assist the community and its members formulate and implement solutions to these jobs. Social workers normally work with jobs related to economic disadvantages. unwellness and disablement. offense and delinquency. maltreatment and ill-treatment. service proviso to particular parts of the population and mental unwellness. All these jobs call for leading attending and trained intercession ( P. 62 ) . No state of affairs can set all these things together more than times of war. What may be the biggest challenge to a societal worker though is the undertaking of assisting a household and community trade with the sudden losingss of loved 1s in combat. In add-on to this. they should besides be prepared to get by with the rehabilitation of those who have been able to come back place but exist with cicatrixs that are non merely physical but besides mental and emotional. The events of September 11. 2001. though technically non a portion of any formal war except the 1 on panic. had an impact that was non dissimilar to armed struggles. There was confusion. choler. anxiousness and above all. people who in an blink of an eye lost their loved 1s. As with wartime. sudden decease can merely be viewed as unjust and prematurely ( Clements. Deranieri. Vigil A ; Benasutti. 2004 ) For illustration. the September 11. 2001 panic onslaughts left behind households and kids who have lost mas and pas in that blink of an eye. Even grownups and kids who were indirectly affected by the onslaughts have grown to endure feelings of anxiousness and tattered security in their personal and familial safety ( Smith A ; Reynolds. 2002 ) . Besides the inevitable feelings of heartache. kids particularly were left buttocks and frequently had to postulate with incubuss and morbid images of the traumatic deceases their loved 1s experienced every bit good as the emphasis and trouble of seeking to visualize lives without ma or pa. It is besides of import to retrieve that the effects of injuries are non limited to those who suffer it straight ( Sims. Hayden. Palmer A ; Hutchins. 2000. p. 41 ) The ubiquitousness of telecasting besides afforded kids at place non merely intelligence of the onslaughts but besides graphic images and descriptions of the calamity and all its force. This made it even more debatable for kids and people who have lost loved 1s in the Twin Towers and the plane clangs as coverage of each hideous scene gave them fresh fish for the imaginativeness and subsequent incubuss. The instance of a 7-year old male child named Johnny is cited in the survey ( 2002 ) by Smith and Reynolds. : Following the 9/11 onslaughts. Johnny developed a changeless fright of his parents go forthing place and acquiring killed by â€Å"bad work forces. † He besides developed a phobic disorder of lifts and would throw fits whenever his parents tried to do him utilize one. Johnny admitted to his healer that his fright of lift stemmed from a narrative he heard of how â€Å"people in the Twin Towers were trapped and killed while siting in the lifts. † ( Smith A ; Reynolds. 2002 ) Neither Johnny nor his household were straight involved or affected in the panic onslaught. The mental and emotional strain suffered by subsisters and those affected by this really high profile event led to the American Psychiatric Association’s puting up of reding services â€Å"focusing on heartache. acute emphasis and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD ) ( Smith A ; Reynolds. 2002 ) . The trouble that most lasting relations meet is in the un-timeliness of decease. While conventional wisdom holds that boies and male parents who go to war may non come back once more. more frequently than non. there is a strong hope that they will be able to come place. Despite the cognition of all the possibilities. the sudden and traumatic nature of decease frequently creates jobs among lasting relations. They become victims in their ain right. Muller and Thompson believe that the mode of decease dramas a critical function in finding the reaction of the subsisters ( Muller A ; Thompson. 2003 ) . If its bad plenty for people to all of a sudden lose their loved 1s. how much more would it be for kids to populate and travel through an environment of war and decease? In his article in the Journal of Multi-cultural Counseling and Development in 2004. Clinical psychologist and Fellow of the American Psychological Association ( APA ) Gargi Roysircar relates the instance of 20-year old Yugoslavian emigrant Stephen. who at the age of 10 witnessed the tallness of the civil war between Christians and Muslims in Kosovo in 1990. In interviews with his counsellor. Stephen recalls witnessing about 80 % of his schoolmates get killed by bombs. sniper shootings and gunshot as they walked to and from school. At age 14. Stephen was taken by his male parent to the frontlines for preparation in combat to contend with the Serbian ground forces. The following two old ages wold take Stephen all over the Balkans and would expose him to all sorts of decease. want and war atrociousnesss. Finally migrating as political refugees in the United States. in 1999. Stephen demonstrated trouble in socialization and accommodation. The changeless supplanting he experienced in war along with the misgiving bred by his yesteryear and cultural paranoia fostered by the Croatian community they lived with made it hard for Stephen to acclimatise to peacetime puting. Roysircar describes Stephen as holding â€Å"recurrent ideas and images of his violent experience in the Balkans. He experienced incubuss. ill will and a profound sense of a deficiency of belonging. Stephen besides frequently recounted the troubles he experienced including â€Å"hiding in a cellar and eating rats† particularly when angry. He besides displays a deep-rooted hate for the Muslims and believes â€Å"the Middle East should be wiped off the face of the Earth† ( Roysircar. 2004 ) . While there may be theoretical accounts detailing phases of heartache and recovery. societal workers must be prepared for cases that do non adhere to such theoretical accounts. In Stephen’s instance while he did non straight lose any of his close household members. he was exposed at an early age to force and decease. He has besides experienced being the cause of another human being’s decease as he and his male parent fought on the Serbian ground forces. This is no different from the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder exhibited by American soldiers returning from Vietnam or any other country where they fought in combat. A individual does non hold to lose anyone in order to experience heartache. mourning and endure any upset that may ensue from it as evidenced by the small male child Johnnie and Stephen. Death in wartime is non limited to merely the loss of a loved one. In a community where all able bodied work forces are called to weaponries. anybody can lose hubbies. brothers. male parents and boies at any twenty-four hours. Families left behind are left to their ain devices and imaginings of what horrors their loved 1s are confronting. Those who do lose household members are haunted by the mode by which their loved one died. There is besides the unfortunate circumstance in war where decease is an equivocal issue. In the Vietnam War. many people were reported losing in action. The households of such people were left at an awkward and atrocious place of non cognizing whether they should be mourning or keeping out hope for their loved one’s return ( Worden. 2003. p. 40 ) . In some instances. some households do accept the world that their loved one may be dead and travel through the full procedure of mourning and recovery merely to be told subsequently that their hubbies and boies were merely captives of war and has since been released. While normally this may sound like a fairy narrative stoping. there may come unbridgeable spreads and tenseness that can merely destroy relationships and lives ( p. 85 ) . On the other manus. some households may maintain cleaving to the hope that their loved 1s are alive and hence garbage to give manner to heartache and credence. Stacy Bannerman ( 2007 ) is one of the many ground forces married womans whose matrimony was broken up by war. In her article that appeared in â€Å"The Progressive. † she relates how her one time happy matrimony with one of the military’s howitzer platoon commanding officers started heading downhill with every decease he caused and witnessed during his stretch in Iraq. She decries the insensitiveness and deficiency of support for military households from the National Guard. She farther cites how there was an absolute deficiency of prompt attending to the mental and emotional demands of returning military work forces who more frequently than non suffered from PTSD like her hubby. Lorin did. Because of this. there have been military work forces who have survived their circuit of responsibility merely to yield to mental and emotional torment and stop up perpetrating self-destruction on American dirt ( Bannerman. 2007 ) . It is the soldiers. their households. and the people of Iraq that pay the human costs. The check so far: more than 3. 000 dead U. S. military personnels. 10s of 1000s of hurt. over half a million Iraqi casualties. approximately 250. 000 American military mans and adult females fighting with PTSD. and about 60. 000 military matrimonies that have been broken by this war ( Bannerman. 2007 ) . The job here is that most of those left buttocks are left to get by with their ain frights without the support of anybody else except household and members who are besides wrapped up in their ain concerns. In this instance. societal workers must be able to take the lead in set uping outreach and community groups so people do non hold to get by and endure in isolation. Carpenter ( 2002 ) states that the psychological wellbeing of the members of a community is one of the occupations of a societal worker. While it is true that the injury brought on by exposure to force and decease may be an single procedure. healing and recovery demands social support and strong relationships ( Carpenter. 2002 ) . This may go a challenge to households and communities who are covering with their anxiousness and heartache. However. Carpenter reminds societal workers that one of the primary ends of societal work is to assist authorise the laden. Oppression in itself can take on many definitions and signifiers. In this peculiar instance. it is the injury and heartache that is enfeebling and suppressing the person and the community. Social workers must besides be prepared to look for marks of pent-up heartache. Some persons choose to keep back and neglect to show heartache and hence develop jobs later in life frequently developing passions. paranoia and demonstrate maltreatment towards other people. At times. the feelings of heartache or multiple losingss of loved 1s may take to a â€Å"grief overload† that would do an person to detain heartache ( Worden. 2003. p. 91 ) The community as a societal system can supply a web of support. Given the right leading. empathy and sensitiveness. it can besides go a â€Å"safe† topographic point where people can come to footings with their heartache and easy travel on toward recovery. In the instances of Johnnie and Stephen. it took clip before they were able to confront and acknowledge their choler. anxiousness and heartache at the bad things that they experienced and fright. Sometimes. self-reflection and a ready ear is all that’s necessary. As clinically trained counsellors and pathologists. societal workers are tasked with the responsibility of assisting people recognize and understand what jobs they may hold. Community-wise. societal workers should hold adequate cognition of the community’s demographics in order to unite and make a solid web of safety and interaction that may help troubled and bereaved persons peculiarly in struggle filled times such as war. Death at wartime comes in many signifiers. It could be the existent decease of a loved 1. anxiousness at the possible decease. loss at whether person is dead or non. or even those who continue to physically populate but have broken liquors and lasting disablements as a consequence of war lesions. Much as decease is a large thing that affects non merely the household but besides the community as a whole. war brings with it so much more jobs and issues that will doubtless dispute most societal workers. Undertaking societal work means one must be in sync with the community. By in sync. it covers everything from issues. cardinal people. and resources that may be mobilized in times of demand. War is a clip of huge crisis and calamity that the societal worker must be prepared to confront caput on and competently lead and ease the procedures by which the community may be transformed into a supportive societal system that each member may be able to depend on. This does non intend nevertheless that societal workers can non be affected or lose their sense of ego in covering with all these calamities. Tsui and Cheung ( 2003 ) urge a self-reflection on the portion of the societal worker in order to understand and come to footings with their ain reactions and feelings to calamities they both informant and hear about from their clients before trying to cover farther with the heartache of others. They besides stress that one time societal workers attend to their responsibilities. they should make so intellectually yet with empathy and concentrate on assessing and turn toing the demands of the community instead than one’s ain ( Tsui A ; Cheung. 2003 ) Mentions Aiken. L. R. ( 2001 ) . Diing. Death. and Bereavement ( 4th ed. ) . Mahwah. New jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=22091057 Bannerman. S. ( 2007. March ) . Broken by This War. The Progressive. 71. 26+ . Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=5021139792 Carpenter. J. ( 2002 ) . Mental Health Recovery Paradigm: Deductions for Social Work. Health and Social Work. 27 ( 2 ) . 86+ . Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=5000778618 Gilbert. K. R. ( 2005 ) . 1 When a Couple Loses a Child. In Family Stressors: Interventions for Stress and Trauma. Catherall. D. R. ( Ed. ) ( pp. 5-30 ) . New York: Brunner Routledge. Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=109184971 Catherall. D. R. ( Ed. ) . ( 2005 ) . Family Stressors: Interventions for Stress and Trauma. New York: Brunner Routledge. Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=109184958 Clements. P. T. . Deranieri. J. T. . Vigil. G. J. . A ; Benasutti. K. M. ( 2004 ) . Life after Death: Grief Therapy after the Sudden Traumatic Death of a Family Member. Positions in Psychiatric Care. 40 ( 4 ) . 149+ . Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=5008586582 Hardcastle. D. A. . Powers. P. R. . A ; Wenocur. S. ( 2004 ) . Community Practice: Theories and Skills for Social Workers. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=104722138 Roysircar. G. ( 2004 ) . Child Survivor of War: A Case Study. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. 32 ( 3 ) . 168+ . Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=5012181947 Sims. M. . Hayden. J. . Palmer. G. . A ; Hutchins. T. ( 2000 ) . Working in Early Childhood Settings with Children Who Have Experienced Refugee or War-Related Trauma. Australian Journal of Early Childhood. 25 ( 4 ) . 41. Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=5001127890 Smith. S. . A ; Reynolds. C. ( 2002 ) . Innocent Lost: The Impact of 9-11 on the Development of Children. Annalss of the American Psychotherapy Association. 5 ( 5 ) . 12+ . Retrieved November 21. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=5002560442 Tsui. M. . A ; Cheung. F. C. ( 2003 ) . Covering with Terrorism: What Social Workers Should and Can Do. Social Work. 48 ( 4 ) . 556+ . Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=5002045024 Worden. J. W. ( 2003 ) . Grief Counselling and Grief Therapy: A Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner. Hove. England: Brunner-Routledge. Retrieved November 28. 2007. from Questia database: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o A ; d=108479290