ABSTRACT
Psychological responses described by participants included depression, anxiety, fear, and somatization. Men and women reported suffering from depression, experiencing feelings of sadness, dejection, and an excessive and prolonged mourning. Intimately involved in the experience of political violence are many emotionally charged processes concerned mainly with loss. Secondary victimization was one of the themes that emerged in participants’ discussions. They referred to the many injustices that occurred to them after the crises. Some participants had trauma-related beliefs salient to support. One belief was that “nobody will help” because of fear of association. Change of values was one of the themes that emerged in group discussions. It seems that political traumas had serious repercussions on family values and on deeply engrained standards that determined directions and justified actions in Palestinian society. Political violence and oppression are problems of monumental proportion in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Paralleling the psychological sequelae of state-sponsored violence is equally pervasive damage caused by secondary victimization.
