How to survive a post-traumatic stress ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes
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0:19 - 0:21Hello.
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0:23 - 0:27On April 8 in 2003,
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0:28 - 0:32I was in Baghdad to cover the war in Iraq.
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0:32 - 0:37It was when the Americans
entered Baghdad with their tanks. -
0:38 - 0:44We were just a few journalists
in the Palestine Hotel, -
0:45 - 0:50and the war was approaching
downstairs, outside our windows. -
0:52 - 0:57Baghdad was covered
in black smoke and oil, -
0:57 - 1:00it stank, you couldn't see a thing,
but we knew what was happening. -
1:00 - 1:02I was supposed
to write an article, of course. -
1:02 - 1:06It's always when it happens
that you have to write the article. -
1:06 - 1:09So I was in my room on the 16th floor,
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1:10 - 1:15writing, and occasionally looking out
of the window to see what's happening. -
1:15 - 1:18And then suddenly,
there was a loud explosion. -
1:18 - 1:20For the past 3 weeks,
we were being bombed -
1:20 - 1:23by missiles and half-a-ton bombs
-
1:23 - 1:29but then that shock,
I felt it inside me. -
1:29 - 1:33So I thought, it's so close!
Very, very close! -
1:33 - 1:36So I went down
to see what was happening, -
1:36 - 1:41I came down on the 15th floor, to see,
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1:41 - 1:44and I saw people screaming
in the corridors, journalists -
1:44 - 1:46and I walked into a room
-
1:46 - 1:51and I understood that this room
had been hit by a projectile. -
1:51 - 1:54Someone was hurt,
-
1:55 - 1:57then near the window,
there was a man -
1:57 - 2:01who was a cameraman,
called Taras Protsuyk, -
2:02 - 2:04and he was lying face-down.
-
2:08 - 2:12I'd worked in a hospital once,
so I wanted to help. -
2:12 - 2:16So I turned him over.
And when I did, -
2:18 - 2:24he was open from sternum to pubis,
but I saw nothing, nothing at all. -
2:24 - 2:31I saw a white, pearly, shiny spot,
that blinded me -
2:31 - 2:33and I did not understand.
-
2:33 - 2:37And the spot faded and saw
the wound, which was very serious, -
2:37 - 2:40some buddies and I put him put in a sheet,
-
2:40 - 2:44we brought him down in an elevator
which stopped at each floor, 15 floors, -
2:44 - 2:47We put in a car that took him
to the hospital. -
2:47 - 2:51He died on the way to the hospital,
and the Spanish cameraman José Couso, -
2:51 - 2:54who was on the 14th floor and was also hit
-
2:54 - 2:56- because the shell
had hit between floors - -
2:56 - 3:00died on the operating table.
When I came back, -
3:00 - 3:04once the car left,
I had an article to write, -
3:04 - 3:09I had to write it. And so I came...
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3:10 - 3:14I returned to the hotel lobby,
my arms were covered in blood -
3:14 - 3:17And there, there was some
Iraqi henchman who stoppped me -
3:17 - 3:21asking to pay him ten days
overdue taxes -
3:21 - 3:24so I sent him packing.
And I thought: -
3:23 - 3:27"Above all, put that aside.
Put that aside! -
3:29 - 3:31If you want to write,
you must put that aside. " -
3:31 - 3:34That's what I did, I went up,
I wrote my article, I sent it. -
3:34 - 3:40But afterwards, beside affect,
beside having lost colleagues, -
3:40 - 3:44something was bothering me:
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3:44 - 3:48I kept seeing this spot, shiny, pearly,
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3:50 - 3:53and I did not understand what it meant.
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3:53 - 3:56And then war was over.
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3:58 - 4:00Later, I told myself, it is not possible.
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4:00 - 4:04I can't not know what happened.
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4:04 - 4:08Because it was not the first time,
it is not just me, -
4:08 - 4:11I had seen things like that in others
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4:11 - 4:14in 20 or 35 years of reporting .
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4:15 - 4:19I've seen things that had
affected me too, but for example, -
4:19 - 4:23in The Lebanon, I knew a man,
a veteran, he was 25, -
4:23 - 4:265 years of war, so he was
a veteran, we followed him everywhere! -
4:26 - 4:29He would crawl at night, confidently,
-
4:29 - 4:33he was a great soldier, a real soldier,
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4:33 - 4:36so we followed him because
we knew we were safe with him. -
4:36 - 4:40And one day, I was told,
and I saw him again since, -
4:40 - 4:42he was playing cards in the barracks
-
4:42 - 4:48and someone came in,
they discharged their weapon, -
4:48 - 4:53as the gun went off and the blast,
the simple shot, -
4:53 - 4:57had him duck under the table,
like a child! -
4:57 - 5:01He was shaking, panicking!
And since then he's never been able -
5:02 - 5:06to get up and fight. And he ended,
I found him, -
5:06 - 5:09as a croupier in Beirout casino
because he could not sleep, -
5:09 - 5:12so it was quite a suitable job.
-
5:12 - 5:14So I thought:
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5:15 - 5:17"What is that thing
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5:18 - 5:23that can kill you without leaving
any visible injuries? -
5:23 - 5:26How does that happen?
-
5:26 - 5:28What is this unknown thing?
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5:29 - 5:34It was too common to be a coincidence.
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5:34 - 5:37So I started to investigate --
that's all I know to do. -
5:37 - 5:39I started to investigate
-
5:39 - 5:42look through books,
-
5:43 - 5:48and reach out to psychiatrists,
museums, libraries, etc. -
5:48 - 5:52And finally I discovered
that some people knew -- -
5:53 - 5:55often military psychiatrists --
-
5:55 - 5:59and that what we were dealing with
was something called a trauma. -
6:00 - 6:04Americans call it PTDS,
or trauma, traumatic neurosis. -
6:04 - 6:06It was something
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6:08 - 6:10that existed,
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6:10 - 6:12which we never spoke about.
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6:14 - 6:17So, what is this trauma?
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6:17 - 6:20Well, it is an encounter with death.
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6:21 - 6:24I don't know if you've ever had
an experience with death -- -
6:24 - 6:26I'm not talking about dead bodies,
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6:26 - 6:29or someone's grandfather
laying in a hospital bed, -
6:29 - 6:33or someone who got hit by a car.
-
6:34 - 6:39I'm talking about
facing the void of death. -
6:40 - 6:45And that is something
no one is supposed to see. -
6:46 - 6:48People used to say:
-
6:48 - 6:51"Neither the sun, nor death
can be looked at with a steady eye." -
6:51 - 6:56A human being should not have to face
the void of death. -
6:56 - 6:58But when that happens,
-
7:00 - 7:03it can remain invisible for a while --
-
7:03 - 7:06days, weeks, months, sometimes years.
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7:06 - 7:08And then, at some point
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7:10 - 7:11it explodes,
-
7:11 - 7:15because it's something
that has entered the brain, -
7:15 - 7:19a sort of window
between an image and the brain, -
7:19 - 7:23which has penerated the brain
and will remains there, -
7:23 - 7:26taking up all the space in the brain.
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7:28 - 7:30And there are people --
men, women, -
7:31 - 7:33who suddenly no longer sleep,
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7:34 - 7:36and experience horrible anxiety attacks --
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7:37 - 7:38panic attacks --
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7:38 - 7:39not just minor fears.
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7:40 - 7:42Who suddenly don't want to sleep
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7:42 - 7:47because when they sleep,
they have the same nightmare every night, -
7:47 - 7:48they see the same image every night.
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7:48 - 7:50What type of image?
-
7:50 - 7:53For example, a soldier
who enters a building -
7:53 - 7:56and comes face to face
with another soldier aiming at him. -
7:56 - 7:59He looks at the gun --
straight down the barrel. -
7:59 - 8:02And this barrel suddenly
becomes enormous, deformed, -
8:02 - 8:05it becomes fluffy, swallowing everything.
-
8:05 - 8:07And he says --
-
8:08 - 8:10later he will say: "I saw death,
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8:10 - 8:13I saw myself dead, threrfore I'm dead."
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8:13 - 8:17And from then on,
he knows he is dead. -
8:17 - 8:22It is not a perception,
he is convinced he is dead. -
8:22 - 8:25Though in reality,
someone pushed that gun away, -
8:25 - 8:27and he didn't actually get shot --
-
8:27 - 8:29but all he knows
is that he died in that moment. -
8:29 - 8:31It can also be the smell
of a mass grave -- -
8:31 - 8:33I have seen many in Rwanda.
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8:34 - 8:37It can be the voice of a friend calling
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8:37 - 8:41who's being slaughtered,
for whom you can't do anything. -
8:41 - 8:42You hear that voice.
-
8:42 - 8:47Every night for weeks, months,
you wake up. -
8:48 - 8:51In trance, panicked, terrified
like a child. -
8:51 - 8:55I have seen men cry, but like a child,
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8:56 - 8:58seeing the same image.
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8:58 - 9:02So in his brain,
that image of horror, -
9:05 - 9:07that of the nothingness of death,
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9:07 - 9:09which is called an analogue,
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9:09 - 9:11meaning an image hiding something,
will occupy everything. -
9:11 - 9:14He can't do anything.
Anything at all. -
9:14 - 9:16He can no longer work,
it can no longer love. -
9:16 - 9:20He goes home, he does not recognize
anyone. He does not recognize himself. -
9:22 - 9:28He hides, he stays home,
he locks himself in! -
9:28 - 9:30I know people who put
small tins outside -
9:30 - 9:33with coins in case anyone passed by, came.
-
9:33 - 9:35All of a sudden, he wants to die,
he wants to kill, -
9:35 - 9:37he wants to hide, he wants to run,
-
9:37 - 9:40he wants to be loved, he hates men
-
9:40 - 9:46and something comes over him all day long,
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9:46 - 9:49and he suffers tremendously.
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9:51 - 9:53And the others don't understand!
-
9:53 - 9:55They say: "But there's nothing
wrong with you! -
9:55 - 9:57You're fine, you have no injuries,
-
9:57 - 10:00you went to war,
you came back, you're fine. " -
10:00 - 10:03And these people suffer tremendously
and some commit suicide: -
10:04 - 10:07after all, suicide,
it's to put my agenda to date, -
10:07 - 10:08since I'm already dead,
-
10:08 - 10:11if I kill myself, fine.
And in addition, there is no more pain. -
10:11 - 10:12Some commit suicide,
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10:12 - 10:14others end up under the bridge,
start drinking... -
10:14 - 10:19You all remember of the story
of that grandfather, of that uncle, -
10:19 - 10:21that neighbour who drank,
who said nothing, -
10:21 - 10:23who was cantankerous, who beat his wife
-
10:23 - 10:27and ended either sinking
into alcoholism, or dying. -
10:27 - 10:31And they don't talk about it, why?
We don't talk about it, why? -
10:31 - 10:35Because it is taboo!
You cannot say - -
10:35 - 10:38man does not have the words
to say the nothingness of death. -
10:38 - 10:41But the others can't hear it!
When I'd come back from an assignment, -
10:41 - 10:44for the first time, I was told:
"Ah! He's back from his assignment! " -
10:44 - 10:48There was a dinner, a beautiful
white tablecloth, candles, guests, -
10:48 - 10:50"Here, tell us about it! "
I told about it. -
10:50 - 10:5220 minutes later,
people would give me dirty looks, -
10:52 - 10:54the hostess had her nose in the ashtray,
-
10:54 - 10:56well, it was horrible,
-
10:56 - 10:58and I realized I had screwed up
the evening. -
10:58 - 11:01So now, I don't tell anymore,
but we are not ready to listen to that, -
11:01 - 11:02We say "Oh, stop!"
-
11:02 - 11:07Is it just a few cases? No.
This is extremely common! -
11:07 - 11:12One third of the dead soldiers in Iraq -
dead, sorry for the slip. -
11:12 - 11:17One third of US soldiers
in Iraq suffer from PTSD. -
11:17 - 11:21In 1939, there were still,
in English psychiatric hospitals, -
11:21 - 11:27200,000 soldiers of the First World War.
-
11:27 - 11:31In Vietnam, there were 54,000 deaths.
Americans. -
11:31 - 11:36By 87, the US government
had found 102,000 - twice as many - -
11:36 - 11:39102,000 completed suicides of veterans.
-
11:39 - 11:41Twice as many deaths
in combat as in Vietnam. -
11:41 - 11:45So you understand that this
is something that covers everything! -
11:45 - 11:47Not just modern warfare,
ancient wars too, -
11:47 - 11:50they are found in ancient texts!
It is told, it is said, -
11:50 - 11:52why do we not talk about it?
-
11:52 - 11:56Why do we not talk about it?
Because the problem -
11:56 - 12:02is that if this man does not speak,
he's heading for disaster. -
12:02 - 12:06But the only way to heal,
-
12:06 - 12:10because the good news
that thing is that it is treatable: -
12:11 - 12:14Munch's The Scream, Goya, etc.
yes, it is treatable! -
12:14 - 12:18The only way to heal this trauma,
-
12:18 - 12:24this encounter with death, which
stuns you, petrifies you, kills you, -
12:24 - 12:28is to manage to talk about it.
-
12:28 - 12:30Someone said, the anceints used to say:
-
12:30 - 12:34"Language is the only thing
holding us men together." -
12:34 - 12:36If there is no language,
we're nothing. -
12:36 - 12:39We are only humans because of it.
-
12:39 - 12:41Faced with this image of horror
-
12:41 - 12:43which has no words,
-
12:43 - 12:47because it's only an image
of nothingness obsessing us, -
12:47 - 12:49the only way to work this out,
-
12:50 - 12:52is to put human words on it.
-
12:52 - 12:55Because these people feel
excluded of humanity: -
12:55 - 12:58no one wants to see them anymore
and they don't want to see anyone. -
12:58 - 13:00They feel dirty, defiled, ashamed.
-
13:00 - 13:02Someone said:
"Doctor, -
13:02 - 13:04I do not go in the subway anymore
-
13:04 - 13:07because I'm afraid people will see
the horror I have in me in my eyes." -
13:07 - 13:08Another said
-
13:08 - 13:11he had a terrible skin disease,
he spent six months in dermatology, -
13:11 - 13:14he would be sent from one ward
to the next, and then one day, -
13:14 - 13:16they sent him to the psychiatrist.
-
13:16 - 13:19And he told the psychiatrist
at the second meeting -
13:19 - 13:21- he had a terrible skin disease,
from here to foot - -
13:21 - 13:24he said: "But why are you in that state?"
-
13:24 - 13:27And the man said, "But because
I'm dead, so I'm rotting away." -
13:27 - 13:31So you see this is something
that affects men at their deepest. -
13:31 - 13:38To heal, we must talk.
We need to put the horror into words, -
13:38 - 13:42human words, manage to tame,
to talk about it. -
13:42 - 13:46You have to look death in the face.
-
13:46 - 13:52And if we can do that,
if we talk about these things, -
13:52 - 13:56then gradually, working with a speech
-
13:55 - 13:59we can recover our human side.
-
13:59 - 14:03And this is important!
Silence is killing us! -
14:03 - 14:07What does that mean?
That means that if afterwards, -
14:07 - 14:11ah, of course, we lost our
unbearable lightness of being, -
14:11 - 14:14we lost our sense of eternity
which makes that you are here, -
14:14 - 14:18if you are here, it's that you feel
you are eternal! You're not! -
14:18 - 14:21Otherwise you would not be here,
you'd say "why bother?" -
14:21 - 14:23And they lost that feeling of eternity.
-
14:23 - 14:27They lost their lightness.
But they found something else! -
14:27 - 14:30It means that if we manage
to look death in the face, -
14:31 - 14:36and face it rather than
keep quiet and hide, -
14:36 - 14:40well have men or women I know,
- Michael from Rwanda, -
14:40 - 14:47Carole from Iraq, Philippe from the Congo
all those people I have known, -
14:47 - 14:49Sorj Chalendon, who is now a great writer
-
14:49 - 14:51and who gave up
report assignments after a trauma. -
14:51 - 14:534 or 5 friends of mine committed suicide,
-
14:53 - 14:56they're the ones who did not survive
after a trauma. -
14:56 - 15:01Well if we can look death in the face
-
15:01 - 15:04if we mortal humans, human mortals,
-
15:04 - 15:08we know where we are humans
and mortals, mortals and humans, -
15:08 - 15:13if we can confront it
and to put this thing back on it -
15:13 - 15:16which is the most unknown land
of unknown lands, -
15:16 - 15:19since no one has seen it.
-
15:20 - 15:22If we can put things on it,
-
15:22 - 15:31yes, we can die, survive and revive,
-
15:31 - 15:36but stronger, stronger than before.
Much stronger. -
15:36 - 15:37Thank you.
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15:37 - 15:39(Applause)
- Title:
- How to survive a post-traumatic stress ? | Jean-Paul Mari | TEDxCannes
- Description:
-
Among the American servicemen who fought in Vietnam, there were twice as many deaths after the war than in the fight. Why? What's going on? What do we call PTSD – Post traumatic stress disorder? What is it and how can it be overcome? Jean-Paul Mari tells us about this issue, which still remains quite taboo, through his personal and professional experience as an international correspondent on the ground in most of the conflict zones of these past few years.
Journalist and international correspondent, psychologist and physiotherapist, Jean-Paul Mari published several hundred reports abroad and several works. He produced a documentary "Iraq, when the soldiers die" and a movie "With No Visible Wounds" adapted from his book of the same name. He was awarded very many prizes. He is the creator and the manager of grands-reporters.com website and has just published a novel, "Antoine's temptation " (Ed. Robert Laffont).
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
- Video Language:
- French
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 15:51
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