ABSTRACT
In Uganda, when someone loses a loved one, each person who knows the surviving family member spends time with her or him, letting the person recount her or his experience and what she or he is feeling (J. Nambi, personal communication, 1995). The visitor then recounts his or her experience with death. In their cultural wisdom, Ugandans understand that everyone is affected by a death, that normalizing and social supports prevent posttraumatic stress, and that telling one’s story over and over again brings relief. I would wager that their cultural practice prevents posttraumatic symptoms from developing from the loss of a loved one, no matter what the circumstances were surrounding the death.
