Abstract
We introduce the forms of post-earthquake suffering that have been described using the new concept of trauma and supplement descriptions of suffering for which this concept is not applicable. We attempt to divide this broad phenomenon along the lines of locally relevant categories. We take a closer look at deep distress of the heart as a severe form of suffering and provide a detailed example in the form of a case study. Views on the treatment of suffering include a wide array of normalizing, non-pathologizing approaches to handle suffering. In this context, however, we discuss suffering and healing based on a conception of the local, which includes an understanding of global processes.
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Notes
- 1.
Respondents normally used the word mental.
- 2.
In a figurative sense, bingung means something like light confusion in the sense of inner unrest and chaotic or disordered feelings and thoughts.
- 3.
In this context, sakit cengeng means prone to sudden crying. The term stems from the slang spoken in Jakarta (Javanese: lara gembeng).
- 4.
In Indonesia, only state employees have a right to claim financial support for medical treatment. In the villages we visited, no one received trauma therapy.
- 5.
According to Cassell’s (2004) definition of suffering, “a person may suffer if he or she is not able to meet the socio-moral demands in the local moral worlds” (p. 38).
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The editors would like to thank Devin Martini for translating this chapter from German into English.
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Indradjaja, J., Zaumseil, M. (2014). Suffering, Healing, and the Discourse of Trauma. In: Zaumseil, M., Schwarz, S., von Vacano, M., Sullivan, G., Prawitasari-Hadiyono, J. (eds) Cultural Psychology of Coping with Disasters. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9354-9_13
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