Perceptions of War Trauma and Healing of Marital Relations Among Torture-surviving Congolese Couples Participating in Multicouple Therapy.

Citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) experienced widespread torture during national wars between 1998 and 2003. Couples who survived and stayed intact suffered tremendous relationship stress. This study used a critical ethnography framework to explore the prewar, wartime, and postwar experiences of 13 torture-surviving couples who participated in a 10-session Torture-Surviving Couple Group in 2008 in the DRC. The group was designed to address the relational effects of torture and war trauma. Participants reported profound negative effects of the war on their relationships; mostly positive experiences during the group, including marital and peer connection and relationship growth; and a number of improvements in their relationship after the group. Implications include support for the use of relational interventions informed by both treatments for traumatic stress and couple approaches to promote trauma healing. Future directions call for increased funding, research, training, and clinical action to treat the effects of traumatic stress on relational family dynamics.