Effect of Insurgency on Mental Health

The present research studies the interrelationship between insurgency and mental health in

the state of Manipur through both quantitative and qualitative methods. The research is an

ethnographic account of the violence and its impact as lived by the people and compares the

distress among two populations of Manipuris, one exposed to insurgency and one unexposed

in order to arrive at a comparative understanding of effects of violence on mental health and

quality of life.

Chapter 1 gives a broad overview of various theories and approaches used in anthropology

and other disciplines to understand violence, its different types and implications as well as

detailed review of literature on political and ethnic violence in Manipur, north east as well as

abroad. It also discusses the theoretical trajectories of the present research.

Chapter 2 discusses the materials and methods employed to conduct this study, and gives

both phenomenological layout of the qualitative design as well as an inventory of various

psychological measures used to collect quantitative data on mental health variables and

quality of life. It also discusses the limitations and scope of this research.

Chapter 3 present a bird's eye view on ethnographic genesis of insurgency throughout the

history as experienced by the people of Manipur. In addition to listing in detail the insurgent

groups and associated violence, it also discusses socio-political and ecological aspects

interweaved with the insurgency as affective of mental well being.

Chapter 4 discusses the physical distress experienced by the insurgency affected group of

people as opposed to those unexposed to the violence due to out migration. The data is

collected with the help of questionnaires and interviews.

Chapter 5 covers the psychological personality traits of both exposed and unexposed group of

people and their association with various socio-economic variables, etc.

Chapter 6 discusses the overall quality of life of both the groups including differences of sex

and residence based on various contributing factors of their socio-cultural environment.

Chapter- 7 summarizes the findings of the entire research vis-à-vis various findings and gives

a wide overview of obtained results.