Mental health and psychosocial support in conflict situations in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: ideals and practice

In the Middle East mental health and psychosocial support systems are underdeveloped. Seven criticalfactors are identified that hinder the initiation of well functioning mental health and psychosocial intervention programmes: 1) shortage of national professional leadership; 2) absence of infrastructure to support mental health and psychosocial programmes; 3) stigma around mental disorders; 4) multiple models of inter- vention; 5) lack of funding; 6) competing interests of non governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN organizations; and 7) insufficient political will and instability.

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Applicability in highly industrialized, resource rich Communities: the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

Both natural and human made disasters create distress in large populations. The IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings set forth principles and a system for their employment, aimed at minimizing the psychological consequences of public health emergencies created by disasters. Guidelines cannot dictate which principle, or principles, of mental health and psychosocial support have the most relevance to the needs of a specific culture in a specific disaster.

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A Public mental health perspective: the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

Five dilemmas inherent in emergency response are presented and discussed from a public mental health perspective in reference to the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. These are: (1) Who should take the lead in the planning and implementation of the guidelines? (2) At what level are the guidelines to be used? 3) What evidence do we have for the usefulness of the guidelines? 4) What are the costs for the proposed interventions, and how are the activities to be financed?

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A perspective from experiences in post conflict Timor Leste: the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

In this paper, several lessons are shared based on experiences in post conflict Timor Leste. In order to provide care to patients with mental disorders in their home settings, a specialist community based clinical service was developed as an alternative to using the (already) heavily dysfunctional primary health care system. We found that mental disorder accounted for a disproportionate amount of the disability in the community. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress were widespread and often represented a normative survival reaction to threat to life.

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Psychosocial community approaches and practices in Latin America

The use of the term ‘community approaches’ in psychosocial work often involves multiple meanings, all of which contrast with individual approaches to mental health. The importance of the context emphasizes the need to design and implement emergency programmes in ways that ‘make sense’ to local populations. This requires not only consideration of generational, gender, spiritual, and cultural practices within the community, but also reinforcing existing resilient resources in the face of adversity.

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Humanitarian intervention and cultural translation: a review of the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

In this article, we place the 'Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings’ within the historical context of trauma healing and humanitarian intervention. The IASC taskforce has done important work by bringing to the fore the cultural and local experiences of suffering in humanitarian intervention. The guidelines’ recognition of suffering and social repair as a holistic experience is a significant boon to applied understandings of populations in crisis.

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Developing inter-agency guidelines on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings

This paper describes how and why the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings were developed. A brief overview about the need for the guidelines, as well as the context and background, are included. Also, a discussion on the process of developing them with an eye towards identifying key issues and obstacles, and the strategies used to manage these issues and enable constructive collaboration, is provided. Also included are the processes of building positive networks and relations across agencies and subfields.

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Mental health and psychosocial interventions and their role in poverty alleviation. Proceedings of a conference

Introduction

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The challenge of recovering from war trauma in the African great lakes region: an experience from Centre Ubuntu in the Projet Colombe Network

Introduction

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Children’s needs or children’s rights? The Convention on the Rights of the Child as a framework for implementing psychosocial programmes

The events that characterise complex emergencies: situations of armed conflict, forced migration and natural disasters, can pose a serious risk of violation of children’s rights. Psychosocial interventions in such contexts are generally implemented from a ‘needs’perspective, and children’s human rights are not integrated into the conceptual framework. This article describes the legal and moral obligations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and outlines the process of human rights based programming and evaluation.

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