Mental Health Of Refugee And Conflict Affected Populations

This book provides an overview of theoretical, empirical, and clinical conceptualizations of mental health following exposure to human rights violations (HRV). There are currently hundreds of millions of individuals affected by war and conflict across the globe, and over 68 million people who are forcibly displaced. The field of refugee and post-conflict mental health is growing exponentially, as researchers investigate the factors that impact on psychological disorders in these populations, and design and evaluate new treatments to reduce psychological distress. This volume will be a substantial contribution to the literature on mental health in refugee and post-conflict populations, as it details the state of the evidence regarding the mental health of war survivors living in areas of former conflict as well as refugees and asylum-seekers.

Print version originally published: Mahwah, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004.

More than half of the 25.9 million refugees in the world are under the age of 18 and the mental health of these children and adolescents constitutes a growing global public health priority. Refugee children and their families are at increased risk to develop mental health problems, but they often face major challenges in accessing adequate treatment and mental health professionals frequently feel ill-equipped to assist this group. Refugees are faced with a plethora of issues including the ambiguous loss of loved ones, psychological trauma related to past experiences of violence and atrocities, the complexities of daily life as a refugee, and the challenges to adapt to new systems of care and support. Refugees’ life circumstances all too often undermine their agency, asthey face discrimination, stigma, and social isolation or exclusion. Refugees are frequently disconnected from the usual family and community supports that they once had, which creates additional mental distress. As parents struggle with these changes, their children often find it even more difficult to adapt and connect with them. This all leads to increased prevalence of mental health conditions among refugees. Humanitarian policies recommend family-centered interventions that are multi-sectoral,multi-disciplinary, and focus on optimizing resource utilization. Over the last decade, a considerable body of research has emerged around socio-ecological models of mental health, family and community approaches, and resilience and strengths-based theories, but these insights are insufficiently incorporated in the practice of mental health care for refugee children. Clinicians often struggle to grasp the common unique stressors that families face and are not familiar with working with families as units for intervention. Using culturally and contextually informed assessment methods and family-oriented management approaches not only help individual children or adolescents, but also their families. This book aims to provide an overview of the latest theoretical insights from research on sociocultural aspects of mental health and connect these with clinical insights from practical mental health care provision. Using strengths-based, resiliency-oriented and family-centered approaches can enrich clinical practice in refugee mental health, but clinicians need to translate the emerging evidence into concrete steps and interventions. This requires additional skills for the assessment and management of mental health conditions in refugee children and families. The chapters in this book are written by a diverse group of authors using global, multi-disciplinary approaches. The chapters provide examples from various contexts including refugees who are displaced to neighboring countries, refugees ‘on the move’, and refugees and asylum seekers in resettlement settings. This book is therefore a unique resource for clinicians, researchers and policy makers working on mental health issues of refugee children and adolescents around the world.

Although forced migration is not new in human history it has become, in our time, one of the world's major problems. In the last few decades, armed conflict and political unrest have created vast numbers of asylum seekers, refugees and displaced persons. This has led, in turn to increasing involvement of professional care workers and agencies, both governmental and nongovernmental. While there is no doubt on the part of helping parties that care is necessary, there is considerable debate about the kind of care that is needed. This book presents a critical review of mental health care provisions for people who have had to leave their homeland, and explores the controversies surrounding this topic. Providing fresh perspectives on an age old problem, this book covers humanitarian aid and reconstruction programs as well as service provision in host countries. It is of interest to all those who provide health services, create policy, and initiate legislation for these populations.

At the moment, over 65 million people are forcibly displaced from their homes. The reasons for movement range from extreme weather conditions and environmental disasters, to war, civil and political crises, to the need for basic economic survival. Amongst these 65 million people are those that have been forced to leave a country that is no longer willing or able to offer protection and those who are displaced within their own country's borders. In order to improve conditions for displaced people all over the globe, we need to look at the reason behind their move as this defines their migration status under international law. In its turn, the migration status affects the requirements of other countries to grant asylum, and the individual's right to protection and support. The definition of migration status and its implications has created tension in the public debate on refugees for decades and is today more relevant than ever. In The Health of Refugees: Public Health Perspectives from Crisis to Settlement, the challenges and vulnerabilities created from this debate are addressed by public health policy makers, clinical practitioners, and researchers. An analysis of public health, international law, the history of migration, and the media's role in refugee health, it is a comprehensive and critical work with a strong message in favour of international and interdisciplinary cooperation. With a focus on what international obligations entail when it comes to refugees and migrants, the authors present a reinforced take on our collective responsibility to leave no one behind. The Health of Refugees: Public Health Perspectives from Crisis to Settlement traces the health repercussions on individuals and populations from the moment of forced mass movement due to conflict and other disasters, through to the process of resettlement in other countries. These issues are addressed within the context of other global public health priorities, and are part of the book's critical analysis not only of the particular vulnerabilities created by mobility, but also how these interact and intersect with existing considerations across gender and age in health systems and international law. With a wider geographical area and case studies from all over the globe as a basis for the studies presented, this is a fully updated edition with new material discussing the current political landscape. A truly multidisciplinary book, The Health of Refugees is ideal for public health practitioners, researchers, and postgraduate students. It is also an important work for those involved in non-governmental organisations, international aid, and international development. Furthermore, it provides a critical background for clinicians, mental health workers, and policymakers from health, welfare and migration.

The focus of this Research Topic is on research that aims to understand the relationships between pre-migration stressors and potentially traumatic experiences, post-migration living difficulties, and mental health in refugees of both sexes throughout the lifespan. We know very little about how concepts of assessing and treating mental health conditions actually work when applied to traumatized refugee populations from different cultures (e.g., the Yazidis people from northern Iraq). Moreover, there is also a great need to better understand the relationship between mental health and refugees’ integration in their host countries’ societies (acquiring language skills, fitness for work, economic independence, private life, etc.). This Research Topic will also focus on the issue of culture—the extent to which concepts of mental health care can translate and be implemented in different social, economic, and cultural settings around the world.

This comprehensive reference book provides both background information and practical, clinical advice on all areas of nutrition for the cancer patient at all stages of their disease trajectory.

More than two decades after Michael Rutter (1987) published his summary of protective processes associated with resilience, researchers continue to report definitional ambiguity in how to define and operationalize positive development under adversity. The problem has been partially the result of a dominant view of resilience as something individuals have, rather than as a process that families, schools,communities and governments facilitate. Because resilience is related to the presence of social risk factors, there is a need for an ecological interpretation of the construct that acknowledges the importance of people’s interactions with their environments. The Social Ecology of Resilience provides evidence for this ecological understanding of resilience in ways that help to resolve both definition and measurement problems.