Healing the wounds of war and more: an integrative approach to peace—the work of Adam Curle and others with Mir i dobro in Županja, Croatia

Abstract

Adam Curle, the founder of the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford, is both an academic and an international peacemaker, active in many countries, including Croatia. Curle's approach to the psychological aspects of conflict and peacemaking were implemented in a number of projects which were founded or inspired by him in Croatia following the 1991–1995 war. This paper examines the practical implications of Curle's approach as evidenced in the Mir i dobro project in Županja, taking into consideration some of the current debates concerning the treatment of psychological trauma, including validity of the diagnosis of PTSD and the use of so-called ‘Western therapeutic approaches’ for the treatment of psychological trauma in other cultures.