War is inevitable. In addition to physical damage, psychological damage is also a part of war. Psychological injuries are somewhat scarier than physical injuries. This research paper will provide signs to identify whether someone is struggling with trauma or not. Moreover, this essay will give reasons why we should pay attention to people psychologically affected by trauma. At the end are some treatments commonly applied by psychologists to treat trauma. 

   Why is psychological damage more terrifying than physical damage? Because physical damage can be easily recognized with the naked eye, psychological damage will be more difficult to recognize. In many cases, not only the people around them but even the patient cannot recognize whether they are psychologically injured or not. Psychological damage caused by war is often trauma. So what exactly is trauma? According to “the impact of childhood trauma on children’s wellbeing and adult behavior” research paper by Cheyenne Downey, Aoife Crummy trauma is the psychological illness of a person after experiencing a terrible situation.. Trauma can form in victims of rape, victims of violence, and especially victims of war. Why trauma especially in victims of war? In the research article “The effectiveness of trauma treatment approaches in refugee children and adolescents: A systematic review” by Emel Genc said “An estimated 65 % of children are diagnosed with PTSD in Europe (Müller et al., 2019) while the rate of PTSD in refugee children is even higher (El Baba and Colucci, 2018, Müller et al., 2019).” This can be understood that victims of war, especially children, are highly psychologically affected by trauma. Moreover there is a strange thing about trauma that may not appear immediately after the victim experiences danger. It can also appear and affect the victim’s psychology some time later. So you may not know if people around you have a problem with trauma until signs begin to appear. In the research paper of Cheyenne Downey, Aoife Crummy provide some signs to recognize a person affected by trauma are that they will have flashbacks of the event, nightmares, avoid people or places that remind them of the event that took place, in some people they don’t want to be reminded of what happened. Just like Elisha’s Dawn was written by Wiesel, E. throughout Dawn it is easy to see Elisha seeing flashbacks to the war days. From the beginning of the book Elisha sees the “Beggar”,the illusion of dead people, Elisha’s friend who lost his arm. These things show that Elisha is very seriously affected by trauma. He even saw visions of those who had passed away. In the impact of childhood trauma on children’s well being and adult behavior research paper by Cheyenne Downey, Aoife Crummy also mentioned a sign that people affected by trauma will not want to be alone. That’s also the reason why Elisha accepted Gab’s offer when joining the Movement. ” You will not be strangers encamped in an age and a place that are not yours. Come brothers, come!” ( Wiesel, E., pg 14) Elisha lost his parents, friends and relatives around him. He also had no homeland to return to, so he had no one to rely on. Since he has no one to rely on, Gab’s offer is like giving Elisha a home to belong to where there are people who have the same pain as Elisha. That shows that he is also a victim of trauma. The main character of Khirbeth Khizeh admitted “True, it all happened a long time ago, but it has haunted me ever since” (Khizeh, pg 1). That shows that he is  a victim of trauma. Or like the couple in the story collection Palestine’s Children by Kanafani, Ghassan. “ For twenty years she avoided talking about it, for twenty years” (Kanafani, Ghassan, pg 151).  That couple did not mention that they had been evicted and lost their child for twenty years. They did not return to Haifa for twenty years. The above characters have signs of trauma, they avoid the event that caused them trauma, suffer from illusions, and have flashbacks of what happened in the past. Compared to physical damage, they suffer more from psychological damage. Even though Elisha had to spend some time in the Holocaust, he never mentioned any physical trauma. From the beginning to the end of the novel, he was only haunted by trauma. The main character in Khirbet Khizeh, he did not suffer any physical damage because his side won the war but he had to deal with the psychological trauma of seeing himself and his comrades corrupted by the war. The thing that haunts them the most for the couple in Returning in Haifa is the trauma of losing their first child. In some cases, if the victim cannot stand it, the brain will erase the memory as a way to protect them. In other cases, the victim is not only affected by trauma or simply erased memories to protect, but the victim can give birth to many different personalities to protect them.   

   If physical injury is the struggle to cope with the inconveniences that physical injury brings, then psychological injury is the struggle to survive. Some reasons to be concerned about people affected by trauma given by research by Cheyenne Downey and Aoife Crummy are that victims of trauma have low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. Some people, in order to reduce the effects of trauma, may abuse stimulants such as drugs or alcohol. In some severe cases, they will have thoughts of self-harm or suicide. According to the National Library of Records, there are up to six million deaths from trauma each year and it’s not just about psychology or miss-behavior it’s also about the physique of the patient. Victims of trauma often lie in a state of stress, which leads to their body being overloaded in the long run because in a stressful for interminable situation, the brain will be tired to think, the heart will be overloaded and have a high chance of having cardiovascular problems. The scary thing about trauma is not only that it affects the victim’s psychology or body, but also that it can affect those around them. When children are abused, they will think that violence is a normal part of education. They abuse and continue the cycle on their children and grandchildren. They will pass their own trauma onto their children and the cycle will not stop.

   Even though the signs of trauma have been listed and researched by psychologists for a long time, it is still difficult to tell whether a person is affected by trauma or not. because if the signs are not so obvious they can easily be ignored and most victims will not realize or deny that they are affected by trauma. That is more difficult to treat, which is also why psychological damage is scarier than physical damage. In some patients, they will have difficulty contacting strangers, they will try to separate them from society. The majority of victims who choose to separate from society are often victims of rape or victims of war because they are attacked by their own kind, making it difficult for them to trust others. This also makes it difficult to know if they are affected by trauma or not since they don’t want anyone to come close. This can be seen in Dawn’s Elisha and Khirbet Khizeh’s main character. In Elisha, the people around Elisha are also struggling with their own trauma, they realize that the people around them are affected by trauma but they cannot do anything because they cannot save themselves. They often use the phrase “Don’t torture yourself” couple of times in the book to comfort themself. That led to Elisha’s psychology being seriously affected by trauma to the point of seeing illusions. As for the male lead of Khirbet Khizeh, although it seemed better that he chose to tell what happened to him, the bad thing is that he can’t trust the people around him anymore as soon as he sees his comrades were corrupted by the war, even though he was almost corrupted. In the middle of the book, around page 20  to 40, the part shows how the main character of Khirbet Khizeh and his teammate are corrupted. “ Right there”, I roasted pointing them out to Gaby … what felt like my moment of shame” ( Khizeh, pg 20). In that scene, he experienced three mixed emotions: feeling happy to see his comrades attack innocent people, then feeling guilty about it, and finally regretting for feeling guilty. He was almost corrupted by the war, which made him feel heavy when talking about what happened because he was haunted by guilt. In the end, even though he felt wrong about what they did, he didn’t say it to any of his teammates. I no longer have faith in those corrupted people. He lost his trust so it was very difficult to treat since he no longer wanted to trust anyone but the good thing is that he at least acknowledged and released his own trauma by telling the story of what happened.

   However the good news is that psychological damage can be completely cured, but physical damage cannot. The main character of Khirbet Khizeh did the right thing. According to Emel Gen’s research, this is called trauma-focused CBT. It is understandable that patients will confront their own trauma by recalling everything that happened and accepting it as part of their memory without continuing to run away from it. Once they have completely faced and accepted it, the patient can overcome their psychological difficulties and continue living without being affected by trauma anymore. In the research article “The effectiveness of trauma treatment approaches in refugee children and adolescents: A systematic review” by Emel Genc also mention Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy This means that when the patient recounts what happened, the psychiatrist will do something to calm and relax the patient’s psychology at the same time as having the patient do breathing exercises. Breathing while recounting the abuse, or giving them a link to images such as butterflies or a pen moving gently will ease the pain as they remember the pain of the past. It is still best to see a psychologist to find treatment specific to each different situation and condition that trauma brings to the patient.

     All the ideals above show that psychological damage is scarier than physical damage because of the difficulty of recognition and the consequences that psychological damage brings. However, psychological damage can be completely cured if the patient can recognize and accept treatment from psychologists.

Work cite

The effectiveness of trauma treatment approaches in refugee children and adolescents: A systematic review – Emel Genc

The impact of childhood trauma on children’s wellbeing and adult behavior – 

Cheyenne Downey, Aoife Crummy

Wiesel, E (1961). Dawn Hill and Wang

Kanafani, Ghassan. “Returning To Haifa.” Palestine’s Children : Returning to Haifa and Other Stories. Translated by Barbara  

  Harlow and Karen E. Riley, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000, pp. 149-188.

S.Yizhar. Khirbet Khizeh