Cambodians experienced appalling atrocities during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979, when approximately 25% of its population died from execution, starvation, forced labour and torture. Thirty years after the collapse of the regime, many survivors are still suffering the after effects of trauma. Studies of the Cambodian diaspora as well as on survivors in Cambodia, show a high prevalence of mental disorders according to the DSM-IV or ICD-10 criteria.
However, the Western diagnostic system do not fully capture Cambodian’s responses to trauma and political violence. Dr Chhim will present a local trauma response-set called ‘baksbat’, literally translated as ‘broken courage’, experienced by many Khmer Rouge survivors. He will further demonstrate that ‘Testimonial Therapy’ is a promising culturally sensitive trauma treatment approach in the ECCC.
Recorded at the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS)
28 September 2011, New South Wales, Australia.
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