Over the past 25years, humanitarian programming has increasingly included attention to the psychological and social impacts ofconflict. Over this time, a wide variety of approaches have been developed to address these ‘psychosocial’ issues. The authors argue that labelling these approaches, as a distinct and separate sector of activity is not helpful, either conceptually or programmatically.

Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy (BEP) is a manualized psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which has proven effective for police officers. This article reports on a randomized clinical trial using BEP to treat other types of PTSD patients recruited from an outpatient clinic. Twenty-four patients were randomly assigned to a treatment or a waitlist group. Assessment of PTSD was made before and after the treatment period (4 months). No significant differences between the groups were observed at pretest.

Adequate survival behaviour is a crucial “gift of nature.” Humans have been fairly successful in reducing the threat to life. Nevertheless, crossing a street or driving a car requires increased alertness in order to survive. Natural disasters such as the recent tsunami and man-made disasters such as war, terrorist attacks, killing, robbing, sexual and physical abuse, and plane crashes show how vulnerable we are. After surviving such an event, people need basics—food, shelter, medical care, and consolation.

To foster a more in-depth understanding of the psychological
processes leading to terrorism, the author conceptualizes
the terrorist act as the final step on a narrowing
staircase. Although the vast majority of people, even when
feeling deprived and unfairly treated, remain on the ground
floor, some individuals climb up and are eventually recruited
into terrorist organizations. These individuals believe
they have no effective voice in society, are encouraged
by leaders to displace aggression onto out-groups,