Insecure attachment and mourning work of a spouse after terrorist attacks terrorist attacks: case of an internally displaced widow in Burkina Faso.Deuil, traumatisme, attachement, terrorisme, marques psychiques

Abstract

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been experiencing terrorist threats and attacks on the whole territory of the country and clashes between communities are a regular occurrence. The following were pinpointed by reliable sources as the reasons behind the misfortune: attacks by terrorists and two coups d’état. Burkina Faso is now the most affected country by terrorism in the world, after Afghanistan. Countless lives are being lost and a high number of persons become internally displaced overnight. Populations regularly witness their dear ones being tortured and cruelly executed and that obviously causes trauma. This study dissects the situation of a woman who was forced to leave her usual location and enter a situation of internally displaced person. Her husband and daughter were killed one day under her eyes by terrorists in her village, Yirgou, and she is living with the tragedy. Interviews and clinical observations revealed how insecure and fragile ties or links between a person and their loved ones are in such a contex, and also the ambivalent nature of anxiety-related ties. What makes this research special is that it reveals how unique and different each situation of this type is. The research critically examines the experience that the widow undergoes, with the trauma, loss and the impossibility of mourning. The main theory supporting the research is Bowlby’s attachment theory (2014).