This paper reports on the results of a research study that was conducted by the members of the Departments of Counselling at Kabul University and Herat University in collaboration with their international advisors. The purpose of the study was to determine how Afghans practicing counselling psychology or wishing to employ professional psychological counsellors understand and operationalize the knowledge, skills and values required to be a professional counsellor in Afghanistan.

Mental health disorders are common in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), creating vulnerability to adverse outcomes. Despite this, there is a gap in understanding the perspectives of people with psychosocial disability (PPSD). A mental health project from Afghanistan collected lived experience narratives through semi-structured interviews with PPSD and family members. 

Little is known about who and what Afghans turn to cope with mental distress precipitated by ongoing socio-political and economic problems. In a cross-sectional survey, the authors examined help-seeking behaviour for mental distress in 306 Afghans residing in Kabul, Afghanistan, and how their choice of what to access for help is influenced by various social and mental healthrelated factors. Factors predicting the use of six distinct resources for support were examined, including biomedical and behavioural health and community-based resources.

Over the last decades, mental health surveys in Afghanistan found very high prevalence figures for mental health problems among the Afghans. These epidemiological data suggest that the majority of the Afghan population suffer from a mental disorder such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Such findings are often met with surprise by the Afghans who doubt that most of the people around them would suffer from a psychiatric illness.

It is assumed that mental health problems are prevalent among Afghans and that the number professional mental health services are less than is required. An interview with one of the pioneers of the contemporary mental health sector Dr. Rohullah Amin is here presented.

Starting in January 2019, RomArchive, the Digital Archive of the Roma, will make the arts and cultures of Roma visible and illustrate their contribution to European cultural history. Through counternarratives told by Roma themselves, RomArchive will create a reliable source of knowledge that will be accessible internationally on the internet to counteract stereotypes and prejudices with facts.

Key Points

Question  How do prolonged exposure therapy, sertraline hydrochloride, and their combination compare with regard to reducing the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms during 24 weeks of treatment?

In Nederland verblijven enkele honderden kinderen die meer dan vijf jaar geleden een verblijfsvergunning hebben aangevraagd en nu met uitzetting worden bedreigd. Het betreft een kleine, kwetsbare groep kinderen waarbij tal van risicofactoren aanwezig zijn die kunnen zorgen voor (verdere) beschadiging van de psychische en fysieke gezondheid.

Over de genocide op Sinti en Roma tijdens het naziregime is weinig bekend. In heel Europa zijn ze gearresteerd, afgevoerd en vermoord. In kampen en ghetto’s moesten ze zware arbeid verrichten. Honderdduizenden Sinti en Roma kwamen om, waarvan meer dan de helft jonger was dan 14 jaar. Het lot van negen kinderen staat hier centraal. Zij spreken voor al diegenen die vermoord werden.

“There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless.’ There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.” --Arundhati Roy

When the world talks about Palestinians living under occupation and in refugee camps, it is usually in terms of politics and numbers – specifically, how many killed, injured, homeless and/or dependent on aid.