4 • • • • the appropriateness of a formal counselling service/model for the Amani client population, the ways in which the counselling was affected by the surrounding climate of ongoing violence and political uncertainty, given that each client was only to be offered a one-off session, what were the resources inherent in their narratives that might be mobilised to enhance a healing process, and in what ways were these healing processes enhanced by the experience through counselling of active witnessing and validation. Brief summary of the literature This study has been influenced by our reading of similar literatures in relation to the psychological and social effects of the trauma resulting from organised violence and torture. While we will not be reviewing that literature in depth in this report, it does seem important to note that there is a large body of literature relating both to similar experiences elsewhere in the world and also within the specifically Zimbabwean context. The consensus from cumulative international work would seem to suggest that the psychosocial trauma caused by OVT is characterised by symptoms characteristic of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which might include clusters of the following: depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, fatigue, intrusive thoughts and emotions, nightmares, irritability, withdrawal and startle reactions (Kinsie et al 1984), and may well have multigenerational effects within the families of victims, as well as within the societies in which these upheavals are experienced (Danieli 1986). This latter is an important point since it would add weight to the view that appropriate interventions now might well reduce the risk of severe multigenerational transmission. Danieli’s work should also alert us to another truism of the OVT literature; namely that survivors often censor themselves in retelling their experiences in order to avoid traumatising their listeners. However, Summerfield (2000), among others, warns against applying models of pathology to populations displaying normal distress reactions in the face of severe and violent social events. He stresses that healing lies primarily in the development of political cultures of human rights and social justice, and appeals for research into resilience factors. Zimbabwe has been the site for some important research on the epidemiology of common mental disorders(defined as non psychotic disorders involving elements of anxiety and depression) in community populations which has suggested that between 30 –40% of clinic attenders are suffering from some form of common mental disorder (Patel, Todd & Winston 1997/1998). Subsequent studies indicate that in around 10% of the population chronic common mental disorders may be attributable to experiences of organised violence and torture (Reeler, Mbape, Matshona, Mhetura & Hlatywayo 2001). It is important to note that these studies predate the outbreak of the current wave of organised violence prior to the Constitutional Referendum in AMANI Trust: At the boiling point of the pain. Report of a pilot study examining the eficacy of psychotherapy for torture survivors.