ABSTRACT
This conclusion discusses the implications for appropriate research methods; conceptions of trauma; the provision of services for people in psychological distress; the understanding of violence; healing of communities following conflict; and more generally the provision of aid. The stories that discussed indicates that, in Sierra Leone, just as in many other countries plagued by conflict, trauma is part of life. This book argues that it is not only the person in psychological distress who needs to be understood but also the person who commits acts of extreme violence. That aid, either in terms of financial and material resources or personnel and training, should be provided to a country, like Sierra Leone, that is faced with massive hardship of recovering from a conflict or natural catastrophe may often seem self-evident. In Sierra Leone, as in some other countries following conflict, the approach taken to rebuilding of the community after the civil war has tended to be one of prescribed forgiveness.
