Can We Heal Inside War? Redefining Recovery
An opinion piece by Dr. Balsam al-Judeili discusses redefining the concept of healing and recovery amid the ongoing war in Gaza. The author raises questions about the possibility of psychological recovery within a dangerous environment, offering alternatives to recovery that are not based on returning to a previous state or forgetting, but on learning to live with pain and preserving humanity.
In her opinion piece, Dr. Balsam al-Judeili questions whether psychological healing is possible within the ongoing war environment in Gaza. She criticizes the traditional view of recovery that assumes a return to the pre-trauma state and proposes an alternative definition: recovery is learning to live with what happened without losing one's ability to live. She points out that demanding a sense of security in an unsafe environment is a common mistake, and that recovery may appear in small things like peaceful sleep or laughing without guilt. The author warns against glorifying resilience and turning it into a burden, affirming the human right to express fatigue and seek help. She concludes by saying that healing is not leaving the war as if nothing happened, but leaving it with humanity intact.