The Teaching and Learning of Psychological Trauma – a Moral Dilemma

The global burden of psychological
trauma cannot be overstated.
Both natural disasters and wars account
for much of the global burden of trauma.
Natural disasters affect some 250 million
people each year. The World Bank (2011)
estimates 1.5 billion people of the world’s
population currently live in countries
afflicted by political or criminal violence
and war. It has been estimated that some
500 million people worldwide suffer from
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders; a majority is
women and children. Psychological trauma
darkens and scars people’s lives – it is a
silent epidemic because much of that trauma
remains hidden, especially in the developing
world: unrecognised, undiagnosed, and
therefore untreated.