According to google, the definition of violence is behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. There are several form and type of violence happen in this world. This included sexual violence, physical violence, domestic abuse and also emotional violence. Even though it comes it different form and types, in the end, it usually results in trauma. According to American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Shock and denial typically happen after the event happen. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. 

Violence against women is a highly visible issue internationally and in many countries. Its impact on health and well-being of women has been shown to result in low productivity, high costs for treatment and police and legal process and indirect costs on other family members such as children who often bear the brunt (Rashidah Shuib et al.,2013). From what we learned in week 4, we can see how violence toward woman are happening every around the world. This included the country that I selected for this course – Malaysia. According to Women’s Aid Organization (WAO), in the year of 2017, there are 5,513 cases reported on domestic violence. The highest number of cases is in the year of 2016 which is 5,796 cases reported. Most of the domestic violence survivor in Malaysia is in the age of 26 – 35 years old. 

Reframing violence against women and trauma as health issue can challenge our understanding of health, illness and medicine. In an article by Rashidah Shuib et al. (2013), there is one study where they tested health practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and practices related to the identification and management of domestic violence. As a result, majority of the health care professionals were not knowledgeable in technical skills and on how to respond to women who came in complaining of violence due to lack of training and the fact that reporting was not mandatory. By reframing and be more exposed to how to deal with violence and trauma, it will reinforce our understanding of it. It is not easy to expose and make people aware about it. In Malaysian community, people sometimes afraid or ashamed to voice out of what they been through. Even in the article stated that, they have to stop the interview for a while due to the presence of her husband.

When it comes to intergenerational trauma, in my opinion, I think it really challenge the biomedicine system. As we learned, biomedicine system did not go well for a long-term treatment. Intergenerational trauma is the transmission of historical oppression and its negative consequences across generations. This means that the trauma eventually passes from a generation to another generation. It can negatively impact families as a result of: Unresolved emotions and thoughts about a traumatic event. In the first week of class, we learned that biomedicine have a huge advantage to treat patients in ER due to medication that can supply. However, when it comes to trauma, it is more toward psychological compared to physiological. It is hardly can be fix by just taking several pills. I think the limitation of biomedicine can provide can be a challenge.

Rashidah Shuib et al. (2013). Domestic violence and women’s well-being in Malaysia: Issues and challenges conducting a national study using the WHO multi- country questionnaire on women’s health and domestic violence against women. PSU-USM International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences. Universiti Sains Malaysia.