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What Occupation Does to the Soul: Samah Jabr, Gabor Maté, Jennifer Mullan, Facilitated by Jess Ghannam

Global Reverberations of Palestinian Historical Trauma: A SAND Community Gathering with Dr. Samah Jabr, Dr. Gabor Maté & Dr. Jennifer Mullan, facilitated by Dr. Jess Ghannam

Join us for a conversation marking the book launch of Radiance and Pain in Resilience, a powerful collection of essays by Palestinian psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and internationally respected mental health advocate Dr. Samah Jabr.

We are gathering in the midst of genocide. The massive, deliberate traumatization of an entire people, cheered, funded, and shielded from accountability by Western governments, is unfolding in real time. As Israel’s assault on Gaza continues to annihilate bodies, families, and entire lineages, this conversation refuses to look away. It asks what it is to tend to the psyche under conditions of systematic destruction.

Drawing on decades of clinical practice, political analysis, and lived experience under occupation, Dr. Jabr examines the psychological consequences of colonization, displacement, and historical trauma on the Palestinian people. Through personal reflections, case studies, and cultural critique, she challenges dominant Western paradigms of mental health and offers a decolonial, psycho-spiritual framework rooted in dignity, collective care, resistance, and truth.

Proceeds from this conversation go directly to Project Hope Palestine, supporting 500 orphaned children living at Al-Baraka orphan camp in Gaza.

Guests

Dr. Samah Jabr is a psychiatrist practicing in Palestine, serving communities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. She was formerly Head of the Mental Health Unit within the Palestinian Ministry of Health and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University. She is the author of several books including Behind the Frontlines, Sumud, Sumud in Times of Genocide, and most recently Radiance in Pain and Resilience: The Global Reverberations of Palestinian Historical Trauma.

Dr. Gabor Maté is a physician, trauma expert, and bestselling author of The Myth of Normal, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, and When the Body Says No.

Dr. Jennifer Mullan is a clinical psychologist and the author of the national bestseller Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice. She is the founder of Decolonizing Therapy®.

Dr. Jess Ghannam (facilitator) is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health Sciences at UCSF.

Timestamps

  • 00:00 — Welcome & introductions
  • 00:04 — Dr. Jabr's path into psychiatry and writing
  • 00:06 — Dr. Maté's journey from Zionism to Palestine solidarity
  • 00:10 — Dr. Mullan's path & the political nature of the body
  • 00:17 — Why PTSD doesn't capture the Palestinian experience
  • 00:22 — The DSM, pain, and what diagnosis fails to explain
  • 00:30 — Colonial trauma: cumulative, collective, and intentional
  • 00:33 — Collective healing circles over individual diagnosis
  • 00:39 — Rethinking the role of the mental health worker
  • 00:43 — The colonial roots of Western therapy models
  • 00:50 — Fratricide, domestic violence & the fabricated "lesser nation"
  • 00:55 — Closing reflections: existence as resistance

Resources & Links

Dr. Samah Jabr

Dr. Gabor Maté

Dr. Jennifer Mullan

Support

  • Project Hope Palestine — supporting 500 orphaned children at Al-Baraka orphan camp in Gaza; proceeds from this event go directly here

Thinkers referenced in the conversation

  • Frantz Fanon — referenced by Dr. Jabr in her theorization of colonial trauma
  • Dr. Kenneth Hardy — Black psychologist referenced for the concept of the "assaulted sense of self"
  • Dr. Na'im Akbar — author of The Psychological Chains of Slavery, referenced by Dr. Mullan
  • Roberto and Bonnie Duran, Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart — referenced for the concept of the "soul wound" and historical trauma

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