“Siamo tutti vittime dello stesso trauma”. Decostruzione della contrapposizione vittima-carnefice e uso dell’EMDR nel nord dell’Uganda

Abstract

The victim-perpetrator pair is not always well-defined, and the total exclusion of perpetrators from psychological support programs can be highly harmful: Who is the real victim of a conflict? Is it just the innocent civilian who is involved in the war, or is it also the innocent civilian who is kidnapped, given weapons, and forced to kill his own people? This article stems from the desire to deconstruct the solid-ity of the definition of victim, and from the intention of including in the canonical definition also the former combatants of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict in Uganda. Following the conflict, the most common symptomatology found in for-mer perpetrators shows a predominance of PTSD cases. This study aims to dem-onstrate how EMDR therapy can be a valid psychotherapeutic approach to assist any category of war victim.The study will address the historical background and will analyze the practicability of EMDR, along with other psychological support practices, considering potential scenarios and challenges that may arise.

Keywords

• emdr
• uganda
• war victims
• ptsd
• reconciliation