Eze Ogbonnia Eze1, Nwonyi Sampson2,&Oselebe Chisom Cherish3
1, 2 & 3Department of Psychology and Sociological Studies, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria
Corresponding Author’sEmail: ezeogbonnia@gmail.com
Abstract
Communal crisis dislocates sources of livelihood while the psychological consequences has been debilitating. Psychological distress experienced during communal conflict dislocates a persons’ integral psychological wellbeing leading to psychological trauma. This study is a narrative inquiry of the experiences of psychological trauma underwent by victims of Ezza/Ezillo communal crisis in Ebonyi State. The principal objective was to investigate if there are elements of psychological trauma in the experiences of the participants. The study adopted the qualitative narrative approach because narrative inquiries have the strength to expose silenced voices like those of war victims. The narrators comprised of 20 communal war victims who experienced the Ezza/Ezillo communal crisis who were sampled through purposive and convenience sampling technique. The study was anchored on John Bowlby’s and Mary Ainsworth attachment theory. Narrative content analysis was conducted and results revealed that participants made sense of their experience of the crisis using knowledge that resembled those of psychological trauma. Such experiences included but not limited to a loss of sense of self, nightmares and flashback memories, feeling of disconnection from the world, sleepless nights, feeling disoriented, disorganized and confused, having problem of concentration, feeling of helplessness and suppressed emotions. Narrative analysis in the study further revealed that the experiences affected their overall wellbeing and made them at some point to have suicide ideation. Conclusion was made that the communal war the participants experienced affected their overall psychological wellbeing such that they made sense of their experience of war with knowledge that coincided with those of psychological trauma. Recommendations were made some of which included that the victims of the Ezza/Ezillo communal war required both psychological and financial intervention to help ameliorate their sufferings. Such intervention was expected from Federal government, State government, Non-governmental organizations and other Agencies.
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