Borderlands of mental health : Explorations in medical anthropology, psychiatric epidemiology and health systems research in Afghanistan and Burundi

Many areas of the globe today face continuous armed conflict, with more and more populations caught in the crossfire. This has been true in both Afghanistan and Burundi where populations have to cope with the psychological and social effects of ongoing collective violence. While living and working in these countries, the author conducted research on the impact of these complex humanitarian emergencies on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, and on ways to miti gate these impacts.
His findings as published in this PhD thesis are based on the following questions:

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Prevalence, correlates and treatment of nightmares in secondary mental healthcare

Nightmares are associated with psychopathology. The prevalence of nightmares in the general population is 2-5%. However, the impact of nightmares when comorbid mental disorders are present is unknown. We investigated the prevalence of nightmares in a population with diverse mental disorders.

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People on the move : Revisiting events and narratives of the European refugee crisis (1930s-1950s)

Chapter in: 'The new yearbook of the International Tracing Service (ITS)'. This book focuses on the spatial dimension of the Holocaust and other mass crimes committed by the Nazis.

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Local availability of green and blue space and prevalence of common mental disorders in the Netherlands

Local availability of green and blue space and prevalence of common mental disorders in the Netherlands Sjerp de Vries, Margreet ten Have, Saskia van Dorsselaer, Manja van Wezep, Tia Hermans and Ron de Graaf Background Previous studies revealed a relationship between residential green space availability and health, especially mental health. Studies on blue space are scarcer and results less conclusive.

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Trauma-related self-defining memories and future goals in Dissociative Identity Disorder.

This study examined the content of self-defining autobiographical memories in different identities in patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and comparison groups of patients with PTSD, healthy controls, and DID simulators. Consistent with the DID trauma model, analyses of objective ratings showed that DID patients in trauma identities retrieved more negative and trauma-related self-defining memories than DID patients in avoidant identities.

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Back to Basics : Integrating Clinical and Scientific Knowledge to Advance the Field of Trauma-Highlights of the ISTSS-2015.

The 31st Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), November 5–7, 2015, was a vibrant and stimulating conference, with many highlights from the opening on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; the keynotes of Anke Ehlers, John Krystal, and Regina Sullivan; the vivid panel discussions with recognized leaders in the field of traumatic stress studies; inspiring and eloquent presentations by master methodologists and clinicians; and much more.

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A Paradox in Individual Versus National Mental Health Vulnerability : Are Higher Resource Levels Associated With Higher Disorder Prevalence?

An earlier study (Dückers, Alisic, & Brewin, 2016) found that countries with greater social and economic resources were characterized by a higher lifetime prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here, we present a similar analysis of national population survey data to examine this vulnerability paradox in relation to other disorders. We predicted the lifetime prevalence of any mental health disorder (i.e., anxiety, mood, substance, and externalizing disorders) in 17 countries based on trauma exposure and country vulnerability data.

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Impact of new traumatic or stressful life events on pre-existing PTSD in traumatized refugees : results of a longitudinal study

Background: A significant proportion of trauma survivors experience an additional critical life event in the aftermath. These renewed experiences of traumatic and stressful life events may lead to an increase in trauma-related mental health symptoms.

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Young Children 3 Years Posttrauma : Prevalence and Longitudinal Predictors.

OBJECTIVE: Age-appropriate criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young children have been established. The present study investigated the long-term course of such PTSD and its predictors in young children.

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Pre-event trajectories of mental health and health-related disabilities, and post-event traumatic stress symptoms and health : A 7-wave population-based study

It is unknown to what extent classes of trajectories of pre-event mental health problems (MHP) and health-related disabilities (HRD), predict post-event traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), MHP and HRD. Aim of the present 7-wave study was to assess the predictive values using a representative sample of adult Dutch (N=4052) participating in three health-surveys in November-December 2009 (T1), 2010 (T2), 2011 (T3). In total, 2988 out of 4052 also participated in trauma-surveys in April(T4), August(T5) and December(T6) 2012 and a fourth health-survey in November-December 2012 (T7).

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