PTSD Sri Lankan Experience
By Ruwan M Jayatunge -August 27, 2012
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.
The most devastating consequence of the spread of American culture across the globe has not been our golden arches or our bomb craters, but our bulldozing of the human psyche itself. American-style depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anorexia have begun to spread around the world like contagions, and the virus is us.
Ethan Watters -Crazy like us: The Globalization of the American Psyche
The term PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) was new to Sri Lanka until the Eelam War broke out. The armed conflict that erupted between the government forces and the LTTE (The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) changed the Sri Lankan society in many ways. The Eelam War created a collective trauma. The war caused lasting symptoms of paralyzing anxiety, grief, and hopelessness among the victims. People became acquainted with new terms that have been associated with war, armed conflict and trauma. PTSD was one of the terms (acronyms rather) that emerged during the course of war.
The armed clashes in Sri Lanka dates back to as far as 1972. In 1972, a group of undercover Tamil militants planted several bombs at the Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna. In 1974, a hand bomb was thrown at the Kankesanturai Police Station. On the 27th of July 1975, the Mayor of Jaffna Mr. Alfred Duraiappah gunned downed by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran,The tension was escalating in the North and
The security forces were repeatedly on high alert. The Eelam War started in 1983 and lasted until 2009. Over the years, the Sri Lankans saw a bloody war that destroyed thousands of lives. Many civilians as well as the members of the armed forces became the physical and psychological casualties of the war.
