Escape at the last moments

By the counsellor Shireen Al-Bayari. The child (H.) is 10 years old and lives in the north of Gaza. His house was exposed to Israeli shelling, and he, his parents and some of his siblings were able to escape from the house, which was completely destroyed, resulting in the deaths of his two brothers who were older than him. The child (H.) and his family then moved to live in a canvas tent for about a week, and after that they moved to live in a mobile room. The family noticed some negative changes in the child's behaviour and thinking, and the behaviours were such as sitting alone most of the time while daydreaming, constant sadness, refusing to leave the room except out of necessity (going to the bathroom), excessive irritability, talking constantly about death and wishing death for himself, recalling the event all the time, insulting others and losing his temper with them quickly and sometimes assaulting them physically, and refusing to play with his cousins and friends. On 28/5/2009 the mother came to the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution looking for someone to help her son come out of the state he was living in, and it became clear from these symptoms, in addition to the counsellor's observations, that the child suffers from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. The main priorities in dealing with the child (H.) were that the child should understand the problem, that he should regain his social life and feel happiness, and that he should modify his negative, unacceptable behaviour and his pessimistic thinking. Work was carried out with the child and the family from 28/5/2009 until 2/8/2009, when this case was discharged after the family noticed the marked improvement in the behaviour of the child (H.). Among the evidence of this: his going out to the sea with his cousins, his taking part in two summer camps, and the child (H.) speaking about the war positively. In the last counselling sessions he explained that his wish for the future is to become an electrician so that he can find a solution to the electricity problem in the Gaza Strip, and the child (H.) took part in a competition for memorising Juz' Amma. The child (H.) leaving his house, taking part in competitions and mixing with people is the greatest evidence that the child (H.) has got past the event and has taken it in.