The impact of violence on mental health in East Timor
Barely a family in East Timor was untouched by the Indonesian invasion in 1975. In the occupation that followed, a third of the population perished from bombing, starvation and systematic killing. In one of the first investigations into mental health carried out by the International Centre for Torture Victims in 2002, a third of the 750,000 people surveyed were found to be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. The problem of long-term trauma has started to be addressed with the establishment of a fledgling mental health service for the territory. The organisation PRADET which stands for Psychosocial Recovery and Development for East Timor, provides a complimentary service to the government's mental health service. It has seen its caseload increase substantially as a result of the recent upsurge of violence in the country. Angela Robson visits Dili, the capital of East Timor and talks to the women running and accessing the service.
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