The Truth Perspective | Dr. Ibrahim Shaqlawi Frankl’s Imprisonment and the Resilience of the Sudanese 

There was a question that occupied the mind of Austrian psychiatrist and philosopher Viktor Frankl as he faced the experience of imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps: What helps a person hold on to life when freedom, security, and the warmth of family and friends are taken away, and tomorrow becomes uncertain? His answer was not that suffering is a virtue, or that a person is required to endure it indefinitely.

Rather, finding meaning in life may help one resist collapse, provided that one is not left alone to face suffering.

This idea gives me pause as we look at our condition today, after years of war. Since April 15, 2023, people have not only lost their homes, livelihoods, and loved ones; many have also lost some of their certainty about life. Securing food and medicine, protecting children, searching for shelter, and restoring work and education have become daily battles that exhaust both body and soul.

While the world is preoccupied with following the news and documenting the destruction, other losses remain that cannot be seen with the naked eye or captured by cameras: feelings of fear that settle in the memory, anxiety about tomorrow, and the exhaustion that accumulates behind attempts to endure.

But the most dangerous thing we can do is turn the Sudanese people’s capacity to endure into an open-ended demand by the Government of Hope for even more endurance. Resilience is not immunity to pain, a smile does not negate sadness, and continuing to work does not mean that a person has overcome the horrors they have experienced. When losses recur and livelihoods become increasingly difficult, maintaining psychological balance may become a battle parallel to the struggle for survival, particularly for children and families who have experienced displacement, loss, and fear.

Here, mental health acquires its national significance. On October 10, World Mental Health Day in 2026 calls for listening to lived experiences and turning authentic voices into tangible change. This call goes beyond sympathy to recognizing a person’s right to be a partner in shaping life. A displaced person is not a number in a report, a child is not merely a case requiring assistance, and a survivor of a traumatic experience is not a story to be told and then forgotten. Each has knowledge of their own experience and needs, which must find a place in decisions and services.

In our country today, this listening cannot be separated from the circumstances in which people live. Those unable to provide for their families need policies and measures that ease the burdens of life; those who have lost a loved one need support that respects their grief; and those suffering the effects of a traumatic experience may need care. Therefore, consolation alone cannot address the pressures of poverty, displacement, and insecurity.

Accordingly, genuine recovery requires psychological and healthcare services to go hand in hand with livelihood stability, and the responsibilities of health and educational institutions to complement the roles of the family, school, community, and government, which has made hope its slogan.

The first step begins when we stop treating mental health as a private matter that is discussed only when illness becomes severe. Confronting pain, expanding services, providing support in displacement areas and across the states, and involving people with lived experience in developing programs are all part of protecting human beings. The media also has a responsibility to tell people’s stories with dignity, rather than exploit their suffering, and to make room for their voices rather than speak on their behalf without conscience.

Frankl, who was our companion in university and libraries, taught us that the search for meaning can be a source of strength. Yet the lesson that must not be forgotten is that a person is not tested solely by their capacity to endure, but also by the extent to which society provides them with the conditions necessary for life. Talk of patience must not become a substitute for care, nor should the glorification of resilience serve as a cover for shortcomings in protecting those in need.

According to #The_Truth_Perspective, Sudan needs not only to rebuild its cities and institutions, but also to protect the human being who will rebuild them. When mental health becomes the last line of defense for a person’s ability to remain composed, neglecting it threatens not only individuals but also affects families, work, education, and society.

What is required of Sudanese people is not that they remain strong, but that, after everything they have endured, they find someone to support them, someone to listen when they can no longer speak, and someone to restore their reasons for living when paths become narrow. Nations do not rise through the resilience of their people alone, but also through the security, care, and hope that the state provides them.

Wishing you continued well-being and good health.

Monday, October 12, 2026

Shglawi55@gmail.com