War, Mental Health & Social Ruptures

Module description

This module explores the ways in which life is lived in relation to experiences of war, violent events, and war-related afflictions and displacement. While we will follow and discuss the debates of researchers who have tried to determine and verify the effects of violent conflict on the mental health of those affected by focusing on concepts like war trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we will challenge conventional and universal understandings of trauma, and disease-centred approaches to traumatic experience and health interventions. While this course is heavily informed on comparative history, both of psychiatry and of wars, it will engage with current affairs and public health concerns. It considers mental health as both a medical and a socio-political matter. 

Assessment details

• 1 x Presentation (40%)
• 1 x 2,000 Word Essay (60%) 

Educational aims & objectives

• To introduce students to key concepts and debates in psychiatry around war trauma and relevant interventions.

• To examine mental health from an interdisciplinary angle by reviewing the publications of work in the fields of medicine, public health, psychiatry, anthropology, sociology, history and philosophy.

• To develop an understanding of theories of and approaches in mental health debates
• To develop a deep understanding of historical perspectives on war and conflict
• To develop an understanding of debates on memory and trauma in psychological sciences
• To examine war and displacement as not only medical but also socio-political and historical matters pertinent to individual and social well being
• To develop cross cultural approaches to experience of social ruptures

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module students are expected to have acquired:

• A broader understanding of the afterlife of wars in terms of shifting historical and cultural experiences of individual and societies.
• A nuanced understanding of the significance of commemorative practices in different cultural and political settings and the ways in which they shape new forms of identification, social networks, and understandings of social (dis)order and anomie.
• An ability to identify the psychological, social, economic and cultural impacts of war and violence individual, family, community, institutional and societal levels.
• Improved analytical skills through an engagement with the selected readings through class discussion, writing assignments and exams.
• A nuanced understanding of the inter-relation between history, politics, and medicine
• An appreciation for the merits and the limits of conceptual frameworks of trauma in psychological sciences
• An understanding of the significance of each cultural and historical context in the ways experiences of war and trauma evolve

Teaching pattern

One weekly two-hour lecture and one weekly one-hour seminar. 

Module description disclaimer

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place to all students who elect to study this module.

Please note that the module descriptions above are related to the current academic year and are subject to change.