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Fundamentals of Working With (Re)traumatized Populations 205

longer paradoxical. And tracing one’s history of multiple traumata along
the time dimension at different stages of development reveals that while
for many people time heals ills, for traumatized people time may not heal
but may magnify their response to further trauma.
It behooves us—the helpers of all professions and disciplines—to
remain mindful that, even when exposed and confronted with the imme-
diacy of an extremely overwhelming traumatic situation, this event is a
segment of an individual’s, family’s, and community’s generational and
multigenerational history (and culture) that might shape, give meaning
to, and intensify the immediate reactions to the present event. Indeed, this
chapter has emphasized the time dimension in trauma assessment and
response and presented an approach that yields the most complete assess-
ment of an individual’s, family’s, and community’s posttraumatic status.
This status is best understood within my multidimensional, multidisci-
plinary framework.
In closing, it is essential for various actors to further define and develop
complementary roles in their responses to disasters. Complementarity
involves the tolerance of, respect for, and capitalizing on the differing
strengths of all the partners: governments, professionals, and the commu-
nities they serve. For example, while people working in the community
(very often, clergy, teachers, etc.) might be in a better position than out-
siders to assess the disaster in its historic perspective, they might also be
bounded by assumptions they take for granted that outsiders won’t be con-
strained by. As well, coordinated teams should be organized such that they
are not confused themselves or become victims like the ones they are there
to care for. And everyone might want to prevent the possible emergence of
the conspiracy of silence by participating in a concerted action to prevent
further and retraumatization by it and related further traumas of the sur-
vivors, their families, and communities (see also Ahern et al., 2002; Danieli
& Dingman, 2005; Krug, Nixon, &Vincent, 1996; Silver et al., 2005).

References

Ahern, J., Galea, S., Resnick, H., Kilpatrick, D., Bucouvalas, M., Gold, J., & Vlahov,
D. (2002). Television images and psychological symptoms after the September
11 terrorist attacks. Psychiatry, 65(4), 289–300.
Breslau, N., & Anthony, J. C. (2007). Gender differences in the sensitivity to post-
traumatic stress disorder: An epidemiological study of urban young adults.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116(3), 607–611.