Bear with me, this is my first diary.
I wanted to bring a heart rending article in today's Oregonian to the attention of this community:
An OHSU psychiatrist works to heal persecuted refugees
We are already seeing the effects of PTSD on our soldiers coming home. What we rarely hear about is the effects our world conflicts have on the people from these regions.
The hallways of this basement clinic hold stories of 30 years of the world's wars.
People fleeing violence in Vietnam, Cambodia and Somalia. From Bosnia, Burundi and Burma. Now, from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.
The wreckage of those distant places has faces and names at the Intercultural Psychiatric Program and Torture Treatment Center of Oregon.
Here, one doctor attempts to put their pasts to rest.
Some of these conflicts we had a hand in, some of them we tried to help, some of them we sat back and did nothing....
The doctor battles ghosts. They emerge at will, sometimes triggered by a photograph, a phone call or for no reason at all. After 31 years and thousands of patients, Kinzie has learned there is no cure for PTSD.
But he has found a method to soothe the symptoms. He doesn't rely on traditional psychiatric care with doctors, social workers and case managers. He hires cultural counselors who have survived similar circumstances as the patients. Successful psychotherapy requires trust, a bond some immigrants have trouble building.
Please read the article, it contains a few accounts of the torture some of these immigrants endured before fleeing to the US. We take for granted how safe we are in this country compared to other regions in the world. That is why we must push back against demonizing those who are different. It starts out as different = looking different, then different = from a different place, then different = thinks differently. Before you know it every one is "different" other than those in power.
We must prove we are worthy of freedom every day.
"Dr. Kinzie saved my life," says Butti, who will be a cultural counselor for Iraqis when they arrive. "He represents this culture, this incredible charity."
We are a great country, but when we hem and haw about the definition of torture as an excuse to perpetaute it, we begin to lose our souls.