Doctors Against Genocide
Colonial Trauma Is Not PTSD
Western psychiatry often relies on diagnoses such as PTSD to explain human suffering after traumatic events. But what happens when the trauma is not a single event from the past, when it is ongoing, systemic, and rooted in a colonial reality?
The trauma is not only individual; it is collective. It is not only psychological; it is political, social, and material.
Colonial trauma describes the cumulative harm inflicted through occupation, displacement, imprisonment, humiliation, starvation, torture, and the destruction of families and communities. It includes the parentification of children forced to survive without the adults who once protected them. It includes starvation used as a weapon and violence designed not only to punish individuals, but to intimidate an entire society.
When we reduce these experiences to individual pathology, we risk obscuring the systems that produce the suffering.
To understand Palestinian mental health, we must move beyond asking, "What is wrong with this person?" and ask, "What has been done to this people?"
Sick From Genocide.
What happens when we witness the destruction of families, the starvation of children, the displacement of entire communities, day after day, year after year?
Many of us carry symptoms we struggle to name: anxiety, sleepless nights, grief, isolation, difficulty finding joy, and a growing sense that life as usual no longer makes sense.
The term Sick From Genocide resonates because it names the cause. It refuses to pathologize individuals while ignoring the violence they are responding to. These are not symptoms arising in a vacuum. They are human responses to witnessing mass suffering and injustice.
Perhaps healing begins by acknowledging the source of the wound.
We are honored to welcome Dr. Samah Jabr, a Palestinian psychiatrist, author, and internationally recognized expert on trauma, torture, historical trauma, and liberation psychology. Dr. Jabr previously served as Head of the Mental Health Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health and is a founding member of the Sumud Network for Mental Health.
Dr. Jabr will explore whether healing is possible amid genocide, collective trauma, displacement, and profound loss and what healing means when violence and injustice continue.
06/21/2026
Next Year In Jerusalem Al-Quds
Dr. John Reuwer, who was just recently kidnapped by the Israeli Occupation Forces from the Freedom Flotilla, speaks outside Delaney Hall.
Interview and video provided by DC-based journalist Chuck Modiano
June 12, 2026
An Israeli drone killed the ER nurse at Al-Shifa Hospital Mohammed Mousa Al-Habil (38) along with his his 6-year-old son, Mousa.
The targeted attack took place while the father and son were refilling water tanks on the roof of their residence in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City.
06/10/2026
🚨 EVERY DAY OF DELAY IS ANOTHER DAY OF ABUSE 🚨
FREE DR. HUSSAM ABU SAFIYA NOW URGENT: DR. HUSSAM ABU SAFIYA MUST BE RELEASED NOW
Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) expresses profound alarm over the continued detention of our colleague, pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, and the decision by the Israeli Supreme Court to postpone its ruling on his case while he remains imprisoned under harsh and degrading conditions. Today, the world saw Dr. Abu Safiya for the first time since his detention. The images were deeply disturbing. Clear signs of physical deterioration, exhaustion, weight loss, and premature aging were visible after more than 530 days in detention. Rather than providing justice, the continued postponement of a decision regarding his case amounts to yet another form of abuse and raises serious concerns for his health, safety, and survival. Dr. Abu Safiya’s words before the court should leave no room for ambiguity:
“I am a pediatrician. I provide medical service and care to patients, the injured, and the vulnerable in the Gaza Strip. I carried out my work in accordance with international law and humanitarian standards. My arrest is unjust and arbitrary, and I demand that the court release me immediately.” Dr. Abu Safiya was abducted while carrying out his duties as a physician caring for children and civilians during one of the gravest humanitarian catastrophes of our time. More than 530 days later, the allegations against him remain undisclosed, with detention files reportedly kept secret. Such treatment violates the most basic principles of due process, transparency, and justice.
Reports indicate that Dr. Abu Safiya is currently being held in solitary confinement in Nafha Prison and continues to endure mistreatment and abuse. The visible deterioration in his condition, combined with ongoing reports of torture, ill-treatment, and denial of adequate medical care for Palestinian detainees, demands immediate international intervention. Dr. Abu Safiya is not alone. Thousands of Palestinian detainees, including physicians, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers, remain imprisoned under similarly abusive conditions.
🚨1,000,000 CHILDREN UNDER SIEGE🚨
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child—ratified by Israel—sets out clear obligations, including the right to life, health, education, protection, development, and freedom from arbitrary detention. Israel has repeatedly violated these obligations through arbitrary, disproportionate and targeted strikes on children, border closures that have caused famine, attacks on educational infrastructure, and the arbitrary, indefinite military detention of children.
These obligations matter. They are not abstract principles. They are not optional. They are legal commitments.
Join us on Capitol Hill on June 11 using the đź”— in our bio and call your reps to protect the children!
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