Healing a Violent World: Healing Invisible Wounds

Recovery from School Violence: Community Support Needed

A recent tragedy in Lincoln, MA illustrates the importance of community in the recovery from traumatic violence. My letter to the editor of the Lincoln Journal follows:

I want to express my deepest regrets for the tragic event at Lincoln-Sudbury High School (L-s) last Friday that will affect all of us — the two boys’ families, the L-S student body and teachers, the principal and his staff and the Lincoln and Sudbury communities — for a long time. In my work as a psychiatrist, I have dealt with the grief of inconceivable violent crimes over the past 25 years. Two things I have learned are the incredible resiliency and courage of victims to heal and the important need for communities to actively engage in recovery through altruism, spirituality and the normalization of life through the continuation of school and work.

Adolescents in our American communities regardless of race and social class are vulnerable to the complexities and dangers of a materialistic and violent world. I have worked with teens for more than two decades in the Boston area and elsewhere. I also have a junior at L-S and another child who will enter L-S next year. The ability of parents and teachers to provide kids with a safe and secure home and school environment is challenged by the constant barrage of aggressive cultural forces, many driven by the profit motive, such as violent media, pervasive drugs and alcohol, pressures toward sex and degradation of women. Fortunately, in the face of this marketing onslaught, the kids remain idealistic and full of life and vitality.

At this moment the L-S communities need to give our teens our full commitment, empathy and support. We also need to give Principal Ritchie and the administrators and teachers our compassion and positive energy. Often in communities affected by tragic violence the two poles of grief set in, either hopelessness and despair or revenge and anger. Ultimately neither results in recovery and healing at either the personal or social level. I stand firmly behind the principal and teachers at L-S and have no doubt they have done a great job of educating our kids and will continue to do so if we do not allow demoralization to set in at the school and among its students and staff. As community members and parents we must stand firmly behind our youth and their educators in the face of a terrible tragedy. These are our kids and teachers and we must love and support them in their time of need. This tragic moment calls for compassionate leadership and solidarity.

Reworking Prognosis and the Concept of Health

A passage from the book:

"Ancient physicians did everything in their power to maximize natural healing and lessen the violence of illness on the patient's body and mind. They told the patient: 'I know your illness and will help cure you or at least relieve your suffering.' In contrast, the modern physician states: 'You may have cancer, infection, or a host of nonserious or potentially fatal diseases. Depending on the diagnosis, you may be in luck and have a good outcome.' Prognosis however, can be used by modern doctors as the first step in establishing a trusting, therapeutic partnership that supports the natural healing capabilities of the patient. Enough is now known of the therapeutic trajectory of traumatized persons that those assisting in the healing process can be extremely optimistic. The fear of a poor outcome or bad prognosis is just that, a fear, which is not based on solid scientific facts and can now be properly disarmed by the healing practitioner. In reworking their use of prognosis, doctors must also begin to challenge the conventionally held concept of health...." p. 192-193.