Gaza nightmares

[imhotep]

I received this in email

While I was conducting training and research at the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme on the symptoms and treatment of torture, a family consulted us about their eleven-year-old son who was having nightmares. Every night the family would be jolted from sleep, whereupon they would spend several hours calming each other down. The content of the nightmares was always the same: Israeli soldiers were breaking into the house and killing the family.

The Intifada was raging and the Israeli Defense Force was utilizing increasingly brutal means of suppressing it, among which were nighttime home demolitions. Soldiers would arrive unexpectedly, order everyone out, and drive a large truck with twin "I" beams affixed in a "V" in front into the home. The suddenness and severity of the invasion, coupled with the destruction of the family's security, produced deep and enduring trauma.

We decided to try to move the boy's imagination beyond the nightmares. When the boy awakened in terror, could the family work together to move the story forward? What would they like to see happen when the soldiers burst through the door? As this exercise was one of imagination, which is consistent with dreams, virtually anything was possible.

The boy was the first to answer. He wanted the family to be invisible. The soldiers would enter, look around in confusion, and leave. We advised the family to apply this outcome to the boy's next nightmare.

It came that night. The family awoke, gathered together, and elaborated an image of the soldiers coming through the door and, thinking no one was there (because they were invisible), leaving in frustration. Everyone went back to bed and, after a time, fell asleep. There were no more nightmares that night. Nor were there any the next night.

The following night, however, the nightmare returned. This time, the family gathered and imagined a scenario in which the soldiers came into the house, fired their weapons, but the bullets had no effect. They went right through people. Terrified by this spooky turn of events, the soldiers would again depart.

This time, the nightmares ceased for several nights. Whenever they returned, the family would again imagine fortuitous outcomes. As the nightmares began to taper off, the family felt stronger, healthier and empowered.

[Lithos]

1. Locking

This is from 1991, not a recent news or op-ed story.

Lithos
FA/NS Moderator
Democratic Underground