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218THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS219irritability is rare. Most of the patients are very young, betweeneighteen and twenty-five years old. As a rule we never advisesurgery. A gastrectomy was conducted twice and each time wehad to reoperate within the year.b. Renal colicHere again the pain reaches its height during the night. Obviouslythere are never any kidney stones. These colics can occurin fourteen- to sixteen-year-olds, but this is rare.c. Disturbed menstrual cyclesThese symptoms are very common and we will be brief. Eitherthe women go three to four months without their periods, ormenstruation is so painful it affects the women's character andbehavior.d. Hypersomnia due to idiopathic tremorsThese are cases of young adults who are denied any rest owingto tiny systemic tremors resembling Parkinson's disease. Hereagain, some "great scientific minds" might be tempted to suggestan extrapyramidal determinism.e. Premature whitening of hairThe hair of survivors of the interrogation centers suddenlyturns white in patches, in specific areas or all over. Very oftenthis disorder is accompanied by deep asthenia plus loss of interestand impotence.£. Paroxysmal tachycardiaThe heart rate suddenly accelerates to 120, 130, and 140 beatsper minute. This tachycardia is accompanied by panic attacks,an impression of imminent death, and the end of the attack ismarked by heavy sweating.g. Systemic contraction, muscular stiffnessThese are male patients who slowly have difficulty making certainmovements such as climbing stairs, walking quickly, or running(in two cases it was very sudden). The cause of this difficultylies in a characteristic rigidity which inevitably suggests an attackon certain areas of the brain (central gray matter). Walkingbecomes contracted and tums into a shuffle. Passive bending ofthe lower limbs is practically impossible. No relaxation can beachieved. Immediately rigid and incapable of relaxing ofhis ownfree will, the patient seems to be made in one piece. The face isset, but expresses a marked degree of bewilderment.The patient does not seem to be able to "demobilize hisnerves." He is constantly tense, on hold, between life and death.As one of them told us: "You see, I'm as stiff as a corpse."37FROM THE NORTH AFRICAN'S CRIMINAL IMPULSIVENESSTO THE WAR OF NATIONAL LIBERATIONFighting for the freedom of one's people is not the only necessity.As long as the fight goes on you must reenlighten not onlythe people but also, and above all, yourself on the full measureof man. You must retrace the paths of history, the history ofmandamned by other men, and initiate, bring about, the encounterbetween your own people and others.In fact the aim of the militant engaged in armed combat, in anational struggle, is to assess the daily humiliations inflicted onman by colonial oppression. The militant sometimes has thegrueling impression he has to drag his people back, up from thepit and out of the cave. The militant very often realizes that notonly must he hunt down the enemy forces but also the core ofdespair crystallized in the body of the colonized. The period ofoppression is harrowing, but the liberation struggle's rehabilitationof man fosters a process of reintegration that is extremelyproductive and decisive. The victorious combat of a people isnot just the crowning triumph of their rights. It procures themsubstance, coherence, and homogeneity. For colonialism has notsimply depersonalized the colonized. The very structure of societyhas been depersonalized on a collective level. A colonized,7 It is irrelevant to add this is not a case of hysterical contraction.