Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: a public mental health perspective.

Aims. To discuss the potential usefulness of a public health approach for ‘mental health and psychosocial support’ (MHPSS) interventions in humanitarian settings.

An eye for complexity. EMDR versus stabilisation in traumatised refugees

While the plight of those seeking refuge in Western countries continues to catch the public eye, the plight of those who have arrived often remains hidden. Many refugees resettled in Western countries struggle to attain a level of psychological well-being. Heavenly burdened by pre- and post-migration stressors, refugees are at considerable risk of developing PTSD. The accumulation of stressors is also what makes them, in the eyes of many clinicians, complex and difficult to treat.

Mental health and psychosocial support in the face of Ebola in Liberia: the personal and professional intersect. A personal account

This personal reflection is based on the author's experiences, a native Liberian, in her country at the beginning of the 2014 Ebola epidemic. It includes her account of events as Ebola cases and related deaths began to rise and the response appeared inadequate. Examples are presented where a robust psychosocial and mental health response was critically required, but most often lacking. This reflection focuses on the points where the author's personal and the professional life met as she co-led the psychosocial pillar of the national response team on Ebola.

Introduction to the Special Section on Ebola: reflections from the field

In 2013, journalists began to write about the first Ebola patients inWest Africa. Now, in 2015, we are at almost twenty thousand cases of people who are suspected of, or actually are, infected and many thousands of deaths further, mainly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. These countries, as well as the international community, not only face the loss of all those people, but also the tremendous

Making Secondary Trauma a Primary Issue: A Study of Eyewitness Media and Vicarious Trauma on the Digital Frontline

This report presents the findings of an in-depth study into the impact that viewing traumatic eyewitness media has upon the mental health of staff working for news, human rights and humanitarian organisations.
I see blood every day. I see bleeding bodies every day and I cannot think about this clinically or scientifically. I cannot look at cut off limbs without thinking ‘Oh my God’.

Programming of hippocampal structure and function by early-life stress: Opportunities for nutritional intervention

Early-life is a critical developmental phase during which brain structure and function are shaped 'for life'. When early-life is disturbed by stress-exposure, this lastingly programs our brains and is associated with impaired cognition and predisposition to psychopathology in adulthood. Unfortunately, early-life stress (ES) is no exception in society. However, prevention of ES is often not feasible and currently no effective intervention strategies are available to prevent or repair the lasting consequences of ES on mental health.

Evaluating predictive screening for children’s post-injury mental health: New data and a replication

Background: Recommended approaches for secondary prevention of posttrauma mental health difficulties in children require empirically sound predictive screening to determine which children require more intensive monitoring or targeted intervention. Although there are several promising screening tools for injured children, none has emerged as the gold standard, and little replication data are available regarding their performance.

Intergenerational violence in Burundi: Experienced childhood maltreatment increases the risk of abusive child rearing and intimate partner violence

Background: Experiencing abuse during childhood affects the psychological well-being of individuals throughout their lives and may even influence their offspring by enhancing the likelihood of an intergenerational transmission of violence. Understanding the effects of childhood maltreatment on child-rearing practices and intimate partner violence might be of particular importance to overcome the consequences of violent conflicts in African societies.

Social relationship satisfaction and PTSD: which is the chicken and which is the egg?

Background: Impaired social relationships are linked with higher levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the association’s underlying dynamics are unknown. PTSD may impair social relationships, and, vice versa, poorer relationship quality may interfere with the recovery from PTSD.
Objective: This work longitudinally evaluates the simultaneous progression of PTSD symptoms and social relationship satisfaction (SRS) in a large cohort of recent trauma survivors. It also explores the effect of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) on the association between the two.

Indicators of terrorist intent and capability: Tools for threat assessment

Behaviors or expressions can (inadvertently) communicate the intention or capability to commit a terrorist attack. Such pre-attack “indicators” can be used to improve police services’ ability to detect and interdict terrorist plots before they materialize. This article explores the concept of terrorism indicators by applying it to seven case studies of home-grown jihadist groups and individuals that occurred in three Western countries between 2004 and 2007.

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