Originally published July 8 2005
Peter C. Alderman Foundation counters the lasting scars of terrorism
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Along with the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, the family of Peter C. Alderman has decided to help those still experiencing the trauma of terrorism by teaching medical practitioners how to diagnose and effectively treat mental disorders, encouraging doctors to share experiences and learn from each other and setting up a Mast Class offering support and caring to visiting medical practitioners.
Peter Alderman, who died in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center, is leaving his mark through the work of his family.
Liz Alderman said that in the weeks following her 25-year-old son Peter's death on Sept. 11, 2001, in the World Trade Center attack, she was not sleeping at all.
On one of her sleepless nights she caught a special segment on Nightline called "The Walking Wounded," a program that explored the incidents of mass violence around the world, and the work of Dr. Richard Mollica, a psychiatrist who founded the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.
The Nightline segment revealed that 1 billion people--approximately one-sixth of the world's population--have directly experienced terrorism and mass violence through civil war, ethnic conflict or genocide, encompassing more than 47 countries.
Dr. Mollica recognized that the survivors of these incidents of mass violence needed psychological help to recover from witnessing their family members murdered in front of them, from seeing their children kidnapped and their homes destroyed.
In many of the countries, the displaced people are treated for their physical wounds and then sent back to live in refugee camps, with no follow-up treatment for their "invisible," emotional wounds.
As he says, "[They] cannot be cured with food and blankets."
So, Mollica started the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, which trains indigenous doctors and sets up clinics to treat people, helping them to return to functional lives in society.
Through their joint efforts, the foundation has instituted a "Master Class" program, which sponsors an annual weeklong training session for medical professionals from post-conflict countries and doubles as a therapeutic healing session.
The first step is to teach the medical practitioners how to diagnose and effectively treat mental disorders such as depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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