The Truth and Reconciliation Commission: It's a novel concept that has captured the imagination of the world. But as South Africa shifts gears for the next millennium, can this Commission heal the scars left by fifty years of conflict?

That's the question that propelled Dr. Jeffrey Sonis, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, to launch his latest research project: evaluating the impact testifying before the TRC has on the survivors of the apartheid regime.

"Torture and other gross violations of human rights were commonplace during apartheid. The survivors of such extreme forms of violence are high-risk for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety," says Sonis. "One theory behind the Commission is that testifying in an open session may help relieve these conditions. Further, the Commission hopes that by lessening the pain, it will help promote forgiveness and reconciliation."

But it's a theory that hasn't been tested, and, according to Sonis, it's also controversial. In South Africa, he says, "many think of forgiveness as a bludgeon that is being forced upon them."

A long-time advocate for human rights, Sonis' interest in healing after trauma was ignited by his participation in a fact-finding mission in former Yugoslavia. At a Red Cross transit camp at Karlovac, Croatia, Sonis' team met with a group of villagers from Ljubija, a small village in Northern Bosnia. "We asked if the villagers were willing to talk about their experiences and there was silence," said Sonis. Eventually, one elderly woman explained: "We have fear into our bones," she said.

But slowly, the residents of Ljubija began to unravel the past. They described in vivid detail a mass grave in an iron mine just outside their village - a grave where the bodies of their families, friends and neighbors had been left to rot.

While intensely painful for the villagers, Sonis believes that talking began a form of cathartic release. The next day, one of the women told him: "When you came to camp yesterday, we didn't want to talk. But now we are glad that you came. Talking was painful, but it really helped."

Likewise, Sonis concedes that testifying may actually increase anxiety in the short term for the South African survivors. Yet over time, he expects that it will ease their pain. That's why Sonis plans to interview each group now, while the experience is still fresh for those who testified, and then again, one year later.

Ultimately, Sonis hopes that his work will help identify what enables victims of national trauma to overcome pain and hatred. "Several other nations are candidates for commissions like these in the future," says Sonis. "But first we have to ask a basic question: Do they work?"

Dr. Jeffrey Sonis is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Director for Human Rights at the Program in Society and Medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Sonis is an expert in the connection between health and human rights. In 1993, he participated in a fact-finding mission to former Yugoslavia with Physicians for Human Rights. Sonis is collaborating with a sister project conducted by Drs. Audrey Chapman and Patrick Ball at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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