Mental health and psychosocial support activities are increasingly becoming a core component of humanitarian response and support for displaced persons in emergencies. However, recognition of the mental health and psychosocial impacts of conflict, disaster and displacement is relatively new within the sphere of humanitarian assistance. This paper, therefore, describes and expands on findings from a review of the UN Refugee Agency's engagement with mental health and psychosocial support for refugees.

The ongoing conflict in Syria has provoked mass exodus on an unprecedented scale, with over four million Syrian refugees now registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Most of these refugees fled across the borders to Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey, where the vast majority of Syrian refugees now live outside of the camps, their priorities and coping mechanisms shifting due to their protracted displacement.

Using a case study, this paper describes initial results from qualitative research with women widowed as a result of conflict in Kashmir. Recognising resilience as a process that contributes to a sense of wellbeing, this paper highlights how this process also often involves experiencing and exercising overlapping identities of being a ‘victim’, ‘widow, and a ‘mother’ for women within conflict contexts.

The last several decades of ongoing conflict and oppression in Myanmar (as it is now officially known) has had an extensive psychological and emotional impact on its people. Unfortunately, there has been a distinct lack of psychosocial programming provided through culturally appropriate methods in Myanmar. This study investigated an eight session psychotherapy group called Sharing Circles. Trained local staff implemented a group intervention in Yangon, Myanmar with 57 Burmese participants from Yangon identified as belonging to one of three vulnerable groups.