Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD) is a severe mental disorder that emerges in response to traumatic life events. Complex PTSD is characterised by three core post-traumatic symptom clusters, along with chronic and pervasive disturbances in emotion regulation, identity, and relationships. Complex PTSD has been adopted as a new diagnosis in the ICD-11. Individuals with complex PTSD typically have sustained or multiple exposures to trauma, such as childhood abuse and domestic or community violence.

Background:

Health care workers worldwide are at an increased risk of a range of adverse mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), following the unprecedented demand placed upon them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychosocial interventions offered to mitigate these risks should be based on the best available evidence; however, limited information regarding the comparative effectiveness of interventions is available. We undertook a systematic review of psychosocial interventions delivered to health care workers before, during, and after disasters.

Around 57,000 people live in Al Hol camp in North East Syria - 64% of them are children. Almost 50% of the camp’s population are under the age of 12. Originally established in 1991, Al Hol was reopened in 2016 when anti-ISIS operations began in Iraq, sending thousands of Iraqi civilians across the border into Syria in search of safety. From 2016 to 2018 there was an influx of Syrian internally displaced people (IDPs). During the final offensive against ISIS in Hajin and Baghouz in early 2019, the camp’s population skyrocketed from approximately 9,800 people to over 73,000 people.