scholarly journals Resilience and Mental Health Among Syrian Refugee Children in Jordan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Dehnel ◽  
Heyam Dalky ◽  
Subashini Sudarsan ◽  
Wael K. Al-Delaimy
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Relational Support ◽  
Syrian Refugee ◽  
History Of ◽  
Highly Correlated

AbstractRefugee populations are at high risk of experiencing trauma and developing negative mental health outcomes. The resilience of Syrian refugee children is not well established as far as modifying the association between trauma and mental illness. A total of 339 Syrian refugee children aged 10 to 17 were surveyed to assess resilience, depression and history of trauma. All children reported exposure to at least one traumatic event, 48.6% reported exposure to highly salient traumatic events such as being held hostage, kidnapping or imprisonment. High rates of suicidal ideation and depression symptomatology were found. Resilience was strongly inversely related to depression. Relational support was found to be the most protective resilience factor and was the most highly correlated with less depressive symptomatology. Empowering children and families to build resilience through social support may be a viable prevention and management approach to other unaffordable or unavailable treatments for mental illnesses.

scholarly journals Cohort Profile: Biological Pathways of Risk and Resilience in Syrian Refugee Children (BIOPATH)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona McEwen ◽  
Cassandra Popham ◽  
Patricia Moghames ◽  
Demelza Smeeth ◽  
Bernadette de Villiers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Cluster Sampling ◽  
Child Gender ◽  
Syrian Refugee ◽  
Hair Samples

The BIOPATH cohort was established to explore the interplay of psychosocial and biological factors in the development of resilience and mental health problems in Syrian refugee children. Based in Lebanon, a middle-income country significantly impacted by the refugee crisis, it is the first such cohort of refugees in the Middle East. Families were recruited from informal tented settlements in the Beqaa region using purposive cluster sampling. At baseline (October 2017–January 2018), N=3,190 individuals participated (n=1,595 child-caregiver dyads; child gender, 52.7% female; mean [SD] age=11.44 [2.44] years, range=6-19]). Re-participation rate at one year follow up was 63%. Individual interviews were conducted with children and primary caregivers and biological samples collected from children. Measures include: (i) children’s well-being and mental health problems (using tools validated against clinical interviews in a subsample of the cohort); (ii) psychosocial risk and protective factors at the level of the individual (e.g., coping strategies), family (e.g., parent-child relationship), community (e.g., collective efficacy), and wider context (e.g., services); (iv) saliva samples for genetic and epigenetic (methylation) analyses; (v) hair samples to measure cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA] and testosterone. This cohort profile provides details about sampling and recruitment, data collection and measures, demographic data, attrition and potential bias, key findings on resilience and mental health problems in children, and strengths and limitations of the cohort. Researchers interested in accessing data should contact Professor Michael Pluess at Queen Mary University of London, UK (e-mail: [email protected]).

A brief history of the criminalization of mental illness

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 638-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel A. Dvoskin ◽  
James L. Knoll ◽  
Mollie Silva
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Serious Mental Illnesses

This article traces the history of the way in which mental disorders were viewed and treated, from before the birth of Christ to the present day. Special attention is paid to the process of deinstitutionalization in the United States and the failure to create an adequately robust community mental health system to care for the people who, in a previous era, might have experienced lifelong hospitalization. As a result, far too many people with serious mental illnesses are living in jails and prisons that are ill-suited and unprepared to meet their needs.

scholarly journals The Effects of a Reading-Based Intervention on Emotion Processing in Children Who Have Suffered Early Adversity and War Related Trauma

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia E. Michalek ◽  
Matteo Lisi ◽  
Deema Awad ◽  
Kristin Hadfield ◽  
Isabelle Mareschal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Reading Intervention ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Early Adversity ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Affective Development ◽  
Syrian Refugee

Early adversity and trauma can have profound effects on children’s affective development and mental health outcomes. Interventions that improve mental health and socioemotional development are essential to mitigate these effects. We conducted a pilot study examining whether a reading-based program (We Love Reading) improves emotion recognition and mental health through socialization in Syrian refugee (n = 49) and Jordanian non-refugee children (n = 45) aged 7–12 years old (M = 8.9, 57% girls) living in Jordan. To measure emotion recognition, children classified the expression in faces morphed between two emotions (happy–sad and fear–anger), while mental health was assessed using survey measures of optimism, depression, anxiety, distress, and insecurity. Prior to the intervention, both groups of children were significantly biased to interpret ambiguous facial expressions as sad, while there was no clear bias on the fear–anger spectrum. Following the intervention, we found changes in Syrian refugee children’s bias in emotion recognition away from sad facial expressions, although this returned to pre-intervention levels 2 months after the end of the program. This shift in the bias away from sad facial expressions was not associated with changes in self-reported mental health symptoms. These results suggest a potential positive role of the reading intervention on affective development, but further research is required to determine the longer-term impacts of the program.

Women with Serious Mental Illness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Mizock ◽  
Erika Carr
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Serious Mental Illness ◽  
Severe Depression ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Class Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Serious Mental Illnesses ◽  
Work Class

Women with Serious Mental Illness: Gender-Sensitive and Recovery-Oriented Care calls attention to a topic and a population that have been overlooked in research and psychotherapy—women with serious mental illnesses (schizophrenia, severe depression, bipolar disorder, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder). The book focuses on the history of mistreatment, marginalization, and oppression women with serious mental illness have encountered, not only from the general public but within the mental health system as well. This book provides an overview of recovery-oriented care for women with serious mental illness—a process of seeking hope, empowerment, and self-determination beyond the effects of mental illness. The authors provide a historical overview of the treatment of women with mental illness, their resilience and recovery experiences, and issues pertaining to relationships, work, class, culture, trauma, and sexuality. This book also offers the new model, the Women’s Empowerment and Recovery-Oriented Care intervention, for working with this population from a gender-sensitive framework. The book is a useful tool for mental health educators and providers and provides case studies, clinical strategies lists, discussion questions, experiential activities, diagrams, and worksheets that can be completed with clients, students, and peers.

scholarly journals Discrimination, Narratives and Family History: An Experiment with Jordanian Host and Syrian Refugee Children

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Kai Barron ◽  
Heike Harmgart ◽  
Steffen Huck ◽  
Sebastian O. Schneider ◽  
Matthias Sutter
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Parental Attitudes ◽  
Small Degree ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Syrian Refugee ◽  
History Of

Abstract We measure the prevalence of discrimination between Jordanian host and Syrian refugee children attending school in Jordan. Using a simple sharing experiment, we find only a small degree of out-group discrimination. However, Jordanian children with Palestinian roots do not discriminate at all, suggesting that a family history of refugee status can generate solidarity with new refugees. We also find that parents’ narratives about the refugee crisis are correlated with their children's degree of out-group discrimination, particularly among Syrian refugee children, suggesting that discriminatory preferences are being transmitted through parental attitudes.

scholarly journals Multiple activities change intervention as a vehicle for changing the mental health narrative and practice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atul Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Drug Resistant ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
History Of ◽  
Resistant Depression ◽  
Health Narrative ◽  
Inadequate Sleep ◽  
Body Ache

A novel intervention named multiple activities change intervention or MACI has been discussed. On 28th July 08 a 33 old male presented with history of stress, worry, and anxiety since childhood, backache since 2002, inadequate sleep, headache and body ache, acidity and abdominal discomfort, and throat discomfort – all from 2002. Results with multiple activities change intervention (MACI): baseline BDI-II score 41, 4 days later 11, and 19 days later 5. No psycho-pharmaceuticals were used. No interpretation regarding the symptoms was offered. Unfortunately, this man did not come for follow up. But there were others whom I have followed up for longer periods, and I have reported three such cases of drug resistant depression, who were utterly hopeless but showed a sharp improvement with MACI. In common mental illnesses (depression and anxiety, alcohol and tobacco use), such sharp improvements are often observed with MACI. Not so sharp but consistent improvements occurred in some other instances. As a social tool MACI has the potential to change the discourse in the field of health—and this is equally true for mental health.

Indigenous Medicine and Nation-Building

2020 ◽  
pp. 133-148
Author(s):  
Edward Chauca
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Literary Fiction ◽  
Indigenous Medicine ◽  
National History ◽  
National Medical ◽  
History Of

This chapter discusses the role of Andean culture in Peruvian physician Hermilio Valdizán’s project of creating and disseminating a national medical history in the early twentieth century. Valdizán’s interest in indigenous medicine and its healing treatments emerged as a critique of certain European intellectuals and physicians who suggested that people in the Americas were intrinsically inferior and unhealthy. Through the use of medical literature, crónicas de indias, literary fiction, newspapers, dictionaries, and pre-colonial pottery, Valdizán defended indigenous peoples’ intellectual capability, emphasizing how they categorized mental illnesses and their treatments. His ground-breaking research was the first attempt to insert traditional Andean medicine into the national history of medicine and mental health.

Trauma and Adversity in the Lives of Children and Adolescents Attending a Mental Health Service

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Reay ◽  
Beverley Raphael ◽  
Velissa Aplin ◽  
Virginia McAndrew ◽  
Jeffery C. Cubis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young People ◽  
Child Neglect ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Clinical Population ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
Family Adversity ◽  
History Of

Although childhood trauma and family adversity can increase vulnerability to serious mental health problems, uncertainty exists about the nature and prevalence in a clinical population. This embedded research aims to establish the prevalence of trauma and adversity in young people seeking help from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). All children, adolescents, and their parents/guardian attending their initial assessment at a CAMHS service were invited to participate in the ‘Stressful Life and Family Difficulties study’ and a clinical interview. 162 families participated in the study. It was more common for young people to experience multiple adversities (three or more) in the last 12 months than single events. Mothers self-reported a greater number of family adversities than fathers. According to clinicians, the most frequent adversities experienced by young people were having a parent with a mental illness (66%), being bullied (63%) and parental divorce or separation (43%). Overall, clinicians reported that 69% of CAMHS clients had experienced a potentially traumatic experience (any physical, emotional or sexual abuse, child neglect or traumatic event). Moreover, young people with trauma histories were significantly more likely to have a parent with a history of trauma.

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