Experts See Trauma Transferred to Youth
Experts say that even now, with the Khmer Rouge long gone, its effects linger on, in victims who suffered trauma, and in the next gener
Kim Sru is a vendor at Olympic Market in Phnom Penh. In the 1970s, she was in a KhmerRouge mobile youth unit in Battambang province. The 49-year-old vendor survivedthe regime because she never expressed her opinion, nor asked nor complained oforders or principles of any kind. She was afraid she would be killed if shedid. "Those who dared to complain or talk politics werekilled by the Khmer Rouge," she said in a recent interview. In Pol Pot's era, officially called Democratic Kampuchea,Cambodians were deprived of their rights to free expression or constructivecriticism. If anyone spoke out or complained about anything a cadre did not like,he or she would be executed as an enemy of the Angkar, the Organization. Experts say that even now, with the Angkar long gone, itseffects linger on, in victims who suffered trauma, and in the next generation,who suffer as well. Kim Sru's experience under the Khmer Rouge has had an effecton her two sons. She has banned them from talking politics or expressing theiropinions on the rich and powerful, or any leaders of the country. "I advise them not to talk about politics as so doingis dangerous," she said. "If I just chat with friends [about politics], that'sok. But, if I speak out in public places, she does not allow me to do so,"said Sok Sambo, one of her sons. "I think she does not let me talk aboutthe leaders or the powerful maybe because of her fear left behind by the KhmerRouge regime." Dr. Mony Sothara, head of the psychiatric department of Phnom Penh's PreahKossamak Hospital,said most survivors of the Khmer Rouge suffered years of trauma as theyexperienced torture and threats and witnessed violence and murder. This trauma is being passed to their children, experts say. "In my study, I found that parents who were traumatizedby the Khmer Rouge regime tend to be too protective of their children,"said Om Chariya, a psychology assistant at the Center for Social Development,who recently interviewed 200 high school students in Phnom Penh for her studyon the transmission of trauma to the second generation. "Being too protective causes their children to sufferfrom depression and anxiety," she said. Psychiatrist Ke Chhum, of the Cambodia-Soviet FriendshipHospital, said for thepast few years about half of his trauma patients have been young people. Hesaid they may have mental problems because of their parents' trauma togetherwith social problems facing youth today. That has caused a shift in the types of patients hereceives, from those 40 and up in the 1990s, to a younger generation now. "About 40 percent of the population are young peoplebetween 15 and 20," said Dr. Chhim Sotheara, manager of the TransculturalPsychosocial Organization. "So just imagine in the next 20 years how theywill lead their lives, when they become parents themselves, if now they arebrought up by their traumatized parents."