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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Psychosocial effects of political detention in Malawi from 1964 to 1993 |
Author: | Peltzer, Karl |
Year: | 1995 |
Periodical: | Psychopathologie africaine |
Volume: | 27 |
Issue: | 2-3 |
Pages: | 221-244 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Malawi |
Subjects: | offences against national security psychiatry |
Abstract: | The total number of political detainees in Malawi under the Banda regime has been estimated at more than 250,000. After thirty years of repression, ex-detainees have now come forward in the media with accounts of their experiences, and human rights counselling of victims of organized violence is being established in the country. The author interviewed a sample of 60 ex-political detainees about their psychosocial sufferings. The interviews were conducted in January and February 1994 in the Blantyre and Zomba regions. Attention was paid to the following issues: fear of repression and detention, charges and offences, arrest and search methods, interrogation and torture, detention, release, posttraumatic symptoms, and reintegration. Three case studies are presented to illustrate the different forms of repression and their psychosocial effects. More than 30 percent of the interviewees were found to suffer from posttraumatic stress. With the support of the International Rehabilitation Council of Torture Victims a pilot project on the treatment and rehabilitation of torture victims and their families is now being implemented in Malawi. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French. |