How We Survive Daily Adversity: Mind-Body, a Functional Approach to Understanding and Treating Trauma

Over the past four years, Haiti has faced an unprecedented, accumulation of traumatic events. Among the worst, we can highlight: Earthquakes, and widespread criminal activity, including kidnappings, rapes, and homicides. Calamities of all kinds follow one another putting the population in a constant fight or flight mode. Since the earthquake of January 12, 2010, the Haitian people have not known any respite. The end of the tunnel is still very far from sight. Amid all this, the mental health of the entire population is weakened. The result is a completely disorganized social functioning. The Mind-Body approach is one of the effective tools that has helped this population to maintain the balance through so many adversities. This approach has increased its effectiveness by allowing the population to find an internally built peace. This paper is intended to be a recognition of the Mind-body approach, one of the most effective in maintaining mental balance in times of adversity.