Support after trauma: violence in El Salvador from the victims perspective

Abstract

In El Salvador, violence, crime, and insecurity are issues of greatest concern, and many people frequently become victims of its multiple manifestations. Usually the care provided by hospitals, after a violent event, is limited to services addressing physical injuries and little attention is paid to psychological trauma. Given this, an NGO in El Salvador implemented a hospital-based violence prevention program, “Healing Wounds”. Applying discourse analysis to 33 in-depth interviews with victims of violence treated in two public hospitals, this paper aims to describe the violence, its effects, and the coping mechanisms caused by a violent experience, from the perspective of victims of violence who have also been patients of “Healing Wounds”. The effects after a violent experience are grouped into effects on mental health, internal forced displacement, and economy. Similarly, multiple coping mechanisms regarding the violent experience are identified: resignation, religion, practical attitude to the event and naturalization of violence. “Healing Wounds” provided its participants a safe space to speak and made them have a better understanding of the violent event. Failure to attend trauma after the violent experience entails a high cost, which is why more interventions that include not only physical care, but also psychological restoration to the trauma are needed.