First They Killed My Father: a daughter of Cambodia remembers WRITTEN BY: LOUNG UNG

PRESENTED BY: JOANAE GRANT

Background Information

The Cambodia/Vietnamese war started in 1975 when Loung Ung was five years old and ended in 1980.

Her and her family were living pretty well considering her dad was a government official

She lived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

PTSD/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Characterized by the re-enactment of traumatic events

In an article about Middle Eastern children, it talks about how PTSD is not treated efficiently in children who have been in shell shock due to war

Stated from the Psychology book, women are most likely to develop PTSD before the age of fifteen than men

When she turned fifteen her trauma from the war surfaced. That means she had PTSD, but when she started going through puberty, everything changed physically and mentally.

Impact of the families death on Loung Ung

Sister’s death: trouble with coping with her death because it happened suddenly

Mom’s death: developed amnesia, lost three days of her life

Dad’s death: started having nightmares of something trying to kill herResearch over WWII women whose father’s

died experienced nightmares after father’s death

PGD/Prolonged Grief Disorder Characterized by disruptive yearning, excessive

bitterness, not accepting the death etc. It is stated by researchers that normal grieving period

is six months after the person has passed away According to the Human Development book grieving

has 3 stages: Avoidance is the disbelief of the death, Confrontation is confronting the death and dealing with all of the emotions, and Restoration deals with the person doing the things they used to and moving on with their lives

In her interview she talks about how her mom, dad and two sisters dying was something she can’t get over

Child Soldiers

Loung Ung was trained to kill Research was done on child soldiers and it was

found that children experienced more trauma, a lot of anger and rage, and PTSD

In an interview she talks about how the leaders used Pavlovian conditioning to get them to fight and work harder

Labor Camps

Communism: a utopian lifestyle, an ideological viewpoint and way of life

When Loung Ung and her family arrived at the first labor camp, the Khmer Rouge, soldiers during the war, burned their belongings

Her family had to work long days without any food because of the rationing

Identity Loss

If people had any type of profession they were killed automatically

In an article about a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, she lost her identity because of the disaster and had to spend her life finding a new one

Loung Ung might have to go through this because she no longer has her own identity

Malnourishment

Characterized by: edema(swelling), depression, muscle weakness etc.

There were times she had to eat insects or small animals due to food rationing

Her body began to change: she had a protruding belly, swollen feet, loss of energy

Kwashiorkor results from illness or infection and Marasmus is found more in developing countries

Orphan

Loung Ung was considered an orphan since her parents died

She tried to find a family to live with, but it didn’t work out

In an article about orphans in WWII, when the father died the children were still considered orphans even if the mother was still alive Orphaned children had anxiety, fear, yearning and

grievance

Rape

Loung Ung was nearly raped by a Viatnamese soldier

In an article about rape, It is used as a weapon, but hasn’t been considered a weapon yet. It also messes with women physically and mentally causing them to lose security

After the incident she questions why would he hurt her if he’s supposed to be saving them

Living with PTSD

In an article about PTSD in ongoing war, children had high levels of PTSD than depression after the war

Loung Ung is watching television and sees Ethiopian children who are malnourished and it makes her think about her baby sister Geak who was malnourished during the war

PTSD helped Loung Ung write this book and her other two books: Lucky Child and LuLu in the sky

References Bahjat, S. (2014). The tale of the Middle East’s children. Middle

East Journal of Family Medicine, 12(7), 22-25. Berk, L. E., (2014). Exploring lifespan development: Third

edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Dugan, B. (2007). Loss of identity in disaster: how do you say

goodbye to home? Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 43(1), 41-46.

Ertl, V., Pfeiffer, A., Schauer-Kaiser, E., Elbert, T., Neuner, F. (2014). The challenge of living on: Psychopathology and its mediating influence on the readjustment of former child

soldiers. Plos ONE, 9(7), 1-11. Kirkpatrick, S. M., Rojjanasrirat, W., Wilaiporn, S., Beverly, J.,

Sindt, J. A., William, L. A. (2012). Assessment of emotional status of orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 44(2), 194-201.

References Continued

Kristensen, P., Weisaeth, L., Heir, T., (2012). Bereavement and mental health after sudden and violent Losses: A review. Psychiatry: Interpersonal & Biological Processes, 75(1),76-97.

Lopicic, J. (2012). The civilian population, wounded, sick, and prisoners of war in the Nazi concentration camps of Europe during Second World War 1939-1945. Megatrend Review, 9(4), 217-230.

McKee. J. S. (2006). Protein-calorie malnutrition: the skeleton in the litigation closet. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting, 17(3), 12-16.

References Continued

Mitrofanova, A.V., (2014). Communism. Value Inquiry Book Series, 276, 87-89.

Munro, P. (2014). Wartime rape: waging wars through women’s bodies. Undercurrent, 10(3), 50-52.

Qouta, S., Punamaki, R.L., Miller, Th., El-Sarraj, E. (2008). Does war beget child aggression? Military violence, gender, age and aggression in tow Palestinian samples. Aggressive Behavior, 34(3), 231-244.

Spuij, M., Reitz, E., Prinzie, P., Stikkelbroek, Y., Roos, C., Boelen, P. (2012). Distinctiveness of symptoms of prolonged grief,

depression, and post-traumatic stress in bereaved children and adolescents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 21(12), 673-679.

References Continued

Taylor, S. E. (2010). The childhood experience of being a war orphan: a study of the effects of father loss on women whose fathers were killed in World War II. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 15(3), 228-241.

Thabet, A.A, Vostanis, P., Karim, K., (2005). Group crisis intervention for children during ongoing war conflict. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 14(5), 262-269.

Ung, L. (2000). First they killed my father: A daughter of cambodia remembers. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Ung, L. Personal Communication, March 19, 2000.

White, C. (2015). Psychology: Fourth edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.