The British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) 184: A18
© 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
EDITED BY ALLAN BEVERIDGE
Do you have an image, preferably accompanied by 100 to 200 words of
explanatory text, that you think would be suitable for Psychiatry in Pictures?
Submissions are very welcome and should be sent direct to Dr Allan Beveridge,
Queen Margaret Hospital, Whitefield Road, Dunfermline, Fife KY12 0SU, UK.
Text by Robert Howard: These drawings were presented to Ian
Palmer, Tri-services Professor of Defence Psychiatry, during
a visit to an
orphanage in Rwanda. ‘In 1994, I was the
British Army Psychiatrist in
Rwanda, indeed the only practicing
psychiatrist there for a brief moment in
time. As such, various
individuals and organizations from non-government
organizations
(NGOs) to media journalists sought me out. It was the latter
who
took me to an Italian NGO group who were working with orphans
at Nyamata. All
had witnessed gruesome genocidal acts and lost
family members. The orphanage
provided safety, shelter and
schooling thereby returning the children to as
normal a routine
as possible, as quickly as possible. Many adults were unable
to listen to the children’s stories, as they too were
grieving, and so
it was that the children helped each other.
Within the safety of the orphanage
and its routines they were
encouraged to first draw their stories and, when
ready, share
them through play, drama or simple story telling; it seemed
to
help. I received their permission to show the pictures they
gave me; the
images speak for themselves’. With thanks
to Professor Palmer
(
ianpalmer{at}doctors.org.uk)
for permission
to reproduce the images and for the accompanying details.
