Narrative analysis of former child soldiers’ traumatic experiences

Abstract

Narratives are an integral part of every culture and narrative exposure serves not only therapeutic purposes but also a social and political agenda (Schauer et al., 2005). This paper will focus on the second aim – using Narrative Analysis to inform and raise awareness of the experiences of child soldiers in northern Uganda. The children involved in this study range in age from 13 to 17 years (M=15.25) and spent from 12 to 108 months (M=48) with the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army. The paper begins by providing a context for the narratives by exploring the extant psychological literature in the field, the conflict in Uganda and the psychological impact of soldiering on children. Next, the paper outlines the steps taken to analyse the children’s narratives before the study’s findings are discussed in relation to how the children use distancing during narration to protect themselves from overwhelming negative emotions and how traumatic bonding appears more strongly in child soldiers who fought with the rebels than those who did not. The way abductees make sense of their ‘new’ reality as child soldiers through juxtaposition and internalisation is also outlined, as is the finding that a mother’s death can result in greater psychological distress than exposure to extreme violence. Lastly, policy implications and future research directions based on these findings are proposed.