‘Disappearing’ people as an act of torture has an ordinary language meaning, such that the United Nations could describe it and various torture treatment centres that address it as torture. The present United States policy of separating families into different prisons at its border with Mexico results in many such disappearances, and therefore is torture of both children and the families they are separated from. This article follows the United Nations description.

Summary

Background

Depression is one of the leading contributors to the global burden of disease. However, treatment availability is often very poor in low-income and middle-income countries. In a randomised clinical trial, we investigated the efficacy of internet-based behavioural activation with lay counsellor support compared with online minimal psychoeducation without support for depression in Indonesia (a middle-income country).

Methods

Interventions on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing have been largely implemented in low and middle income countries. In order to adapt the support offered, an increasing number of applied research projects in mental health and psychosocial support have been conducted. However, while challenges arising can be related to the specificity of the mental health and psychosocial sector, within a broader perspective they are also strongly linked to difficulties of access to beneficiaries, security and protections issues, and competence of staff.

Sex and gender are important considerations within refugee studies. Risks to health and wellbeing may manifest differently for refugee women and men, as may the use of health and social services and responses to interventions. Since the 1980s, increased attention has been paid to the experience of girls and women in refugee and humanitarian research, however, much less attention has been paid to boys and men. The purpose of this systematic scoping review was to investigate whether there is a gender bias in refugee and humanitarian research on refugee trauma.