International Journal of Mental Health Systems BioMed Central Research Open Access Collective trauma in northern Sri Lanka: a qualitative psychosocial-ecological study Daya Somasundaram1,2,3 Address: 1Department of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, Australia, 2Scholar Rescue Fund, Institute of International Education, New York, USA and 3University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka Email: Daya Somasundaram -
[email protected] Published: 4 October 2007 Received: 16 March 2007 Accepted: 4 October 2007 International Journal of Mental Health Systems 2007, 1:5 doi:10.1186/1752-4458-1-5 This article is available from: http://www.ijmhs.com/content/1/1/5 © 2007 Somasundaram; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: Complex situations that follow war and natural disasters have a psychosocial impact on not only the individual but also on the family, community and society. Just as the mental health effects on the individual psyche can result in non pathological distress as well as a variety of psychiatric disorders; massive and widespread trauma and loss can impact on family and social processes causing changes at the family, community and societal levels. Method: This qualitative, ecological study is a naturalistic, psychosocial ethnography in Northern Sri Lanka, while actively involved in psychosocial and community mental health programmes among the Tamil community. Participatory observation, key informant interviews and focus group discussion with community level relief and rehabilitation workers and government and non- governmental officials were used to gather data.