Collective Healing : A Social Action Approach. Supplement to support sustainable use of Narrative Theatre

Healing is not an event, it is a process done with the support of many

Preface

The Centre Ubuntu is Non-Profit Organisation based in Bujumbura, Burundi. In 2005, the Centre adopted Narrative Theatre as a main strategy to strengthen the social fabric of the communities they serve, and to facilitate healing in areas traumatised by war.

Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers

Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers

FOREWORD

Anthology of resources: Psychological first aid for low and middle income countries project 2009-2010

The following is a collection of resources gathered in 2009-2010 for the project to develop a Psychological First Aid Guide for low and middle income countries. Resources were reviewed to inform the project, and included for their interest and relevance to the theme. We appreciate all of those who have contributed to this body of work and those who shared their resources for this anthology, with a special thanks to suggestions from the World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

Terrorism as a process: A critical review of Moghaddam’s ‘‘Staircase to Terrorism’’

This study reviews empirical evidence for Moghaddam’s model “Staircase to Terrorism,” which portrays terrorism as a process of six consecutive steps culminating in terrorism. An extensive literature search, where 2,564 publications on terrorism were screened, resulted in 38 articles which were subject to further analysis. The results showed that while most of the theories and processes linked to Moghaddam’s model are supported by empirical evidence, the proposed transitions between the different steps are not.

EMDR versus stabilisation in traumatised asylum seekers and refugees: results of a pilot study

At the end of 2008, there were 16 million asylum seekers and refugees worldwide (UNHCR, 2009). Many refugees are exposed to potentially traumatising situations during several phases of their journey: surviving war or organised violence, including imprisonment and torture; becoming fugitives; leaving their home country, often to stay in refugee camps before being granted a right to stay in a country of settlement; and experiencing the stresses of resettlement and discrimination (Silove, Tarn, Bowles, & Reid, 1991).

Symptom attribution and presentation in general practice after an extreme life event

Background. A serious life event is likely to shape attributions relating to symptoms experienced afterwards. While they may play an important role in prognosis and seeking care, such perceptions have hardly been studied among survivors of a disaster.

Objective. To investigate the association between self-reported health problems that have been attributed to an extreme life event and the symptoms presented to GPs.

The dispossessed: diary of a psychiatrist at the Chad/Sudan border (2004)

While working for an international humanitarian organisation in the Sudanese refugee camps at the Chad border, British child psychiatrist Lynne Jones kept a personal diary. In this diary, she reflects on the practical challenges and moral dilemmas facing a mental health practitioner working in this difficult context.

Keywords: Chad, ethics, mental health care, people with severe mental disorders, Sudanese refugees

(In order to protect confidentiality, personal details of agencies, colleagues and patients have been altered.)

Building up mental health services from scratch: experiences from East Sri Lanka

The author describes his experiences as a psychiatrist in East Sri Lanka where he was involved in building mental health and psychosocial services in the context of war and disaster He stresses the necessity of creating patient and family friendly services, and advocates for the principle of distributing basic services over the whole region, instead of providing a highly specialised service that most of the people who need help cannot reach.

Integrating mental health into existing systems of care during and after complex humanitarian emergencies: rethinking the experience

This concluding paper of the Intervention Special Issue on integrating mental health care into health systems during and after complex emergencies summarises the main findings and conclusions of each of the programmes presented. This paper further integrates these findings into a common framework in order to extract key factors and recommendations on actions that can be taken, and those to avoid, to enable humanitarian emergencies to be transformed into opportunities in the psychosocial field.

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