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Summary
One of the less understood aspect of border fortifications is their impact on the people who live near them, including the citizens they are ostensibly designed to protect. In her new book, Wall Disease, journalist Jessica Wapner argues that these impacts include the emergence of an illness first characterized by psychologist Dietfried Müller-Hegemann in the 1970s. Drawing from his observations of a number of East Germans, Müller-Hegemann coined the term "wall disease" to describe a condition experienced by those living near physical barriers whose symptoms include a sense of social isolation, dejection, and suicidal thoughts. Wapner argues that wall disease is now a global phenomenon, resulting from the worldwide proliferation of border walls and the increasing poverty and violence found near them.
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