Psychological burdens during genocide: A psychocartographic qualitative study of civilian experiences in Gaza, December 2024–February 2025

This study examines the intertwined psychological, material, and spatial burdens experienced by displaced Palestinians in Gaza during ongoing war and genocide. Drawing on participants' narratives, three primary themes were identified: (a) psychological burden of war and genocide, reflecting the profound emotional and cognitive toll of disrupted daily life, loss of social networks, and destruction of familiar spaces; participants expressed yearning for life before the war, frustration at global inattention, uncertainty about the future, and longing for the conflict to end, alongside an affirmation of humanity in the face of dehumanization; (b) physical and material challenges of survival during genocide, highlighting the inseparability of environmental hazards, economic precarity, and everyday emotional and social experiences; and (c) unsafety and genocidal violence, capturing the pervasive fear and terror generated by the absence of safe spaces across Gaza. Analysis is informed by critical human geography, Deleuzian rhizomatic theory, and decolonial psychology, framing trauma as embedded in structural violence, spatial oppression, and historical inequities. Participants’ narratives reveal that trauma is nonlinear and rhizomatic, intertwining despair, resilience, and solidarity, while oppressive spaces and material deprivation exacerbate psychological suffering. These findings highlight how war and genocide transform everyday spaces into zones of precarity, demonstrating the spatialized and relational nature of trauma. Implications emphasize the need for mental health approaches that attend to the material, social, and spatial dimensions of suffering, and that support locally rooted, collective, and community-based forms of care grounded in lived experience and existing Palestinian responses.