Melancholic Response to War Violence and Displacement
Melancholic Response to War Violence and Displacement

Summary/Abstract: This article examines melancholic responses among refugees who have experienced war violence, forced displacement, and prolonged uncertainty. Drawing on clinical work and field observations conducted between 2014 and 2018 in Greece and Bulgaria, and my research in Sarajevo in 2012 the paper argues that melancholia—marked by ambivalence, guilt, and fixation on an idealized past—emerges when symbolic frameworks for mourning are shattered. Extending earlier work on war-related melancholia, this article introduces the concept of post-ness, a temporal and cultural condition in which individuals and communities relate to life primarily through what has been lost, rather than through future possibilities. The analysis integrates individual clinical vignettes with collective socio-political dynamics and concludes with recommendations for mental-health practitioners and refugee-support structures.

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