Joop de Jong - Böcker

Massive traumatic stress resulting from armed conflict and terrorism is a prime concern of governments, non-government organizations and the United Nations. Yet there is little systematic knowledge of how to address complicated by the lack of culturally appropriate models for mental health care in many low-income countries. This volume describes a variety of public mental health and psychosocial programmes in conflict and post-conflict situations in Africa and Asia. Each chapter details the psychosocial and mental health aspects of specific conflicts and examines them within their sociopolitical and historical contexts.

With traumatic stress an increasing global challenge, the U.N., the NGO community and goverments must take into account the psychological aftermath of large-scale catastrophes and individual or group violence. This volume addresses this global perspective, and as such it provides a conceptual framework for interventions in the wake of abuse, torture, war, and disaster on individual, local, regional, and international levels. To be useful to both practitioners and policy makers, the book identifies model programmes that can be implemented at every level. These programmes vary in target and intensity to include social policy, safety programmes, public education, coordination, capacity building, training, self-help, counselling, and clinical intervention. A core group of chapters covers the general concepts of traumatic stress, intervention, and social deprivation, while others focus on specific traumatic events like refugees and child abuse in peacetime, each addressing the scope of the problem, reactions to the traumatic stressor, intervention issues, and recommendations. One whole chapter is devoted to caregiver reactions.Special features of the book are the integration of cultural, gender, poverty, and marginalization issues into each discussion, as well as the contributions of internationally noted academic and professional experts. U.N. and NGO personnel provided input and feedback on each chapter to provide the best working guidelines available for those responding to trauma around the world.

With traumatic stress an increasing global challenge, the U.N., the NGO community and goverments must take into account the psychological aftermath of large-scale catastrophes and individual or group violence. This volume addresses this global perspective, and as such it provides a conceptual framework for interventions in the wake of abuse, torture, war, and disaster on individual, local, regional, and international levels. To be useful to both practitioners and policy makers, the book identifies model programmes that can be implemented at every level. These programmes vary in target and intensity to include social policy, safety programmes, public education, coordination, capacity building, training, self-help, counselling, and clinical intervention. A core group of chapters covers the general concepts of traumatic stress, intervention, and social deprivation, while others focus on specific traumatic events like refugees and child abuse in peacetime, each addressing the scope of the problem, reactions to the traumatic stressor, intervention issues, and recommendations. One whole chapter is devoted to caregiver reactions.Special features of the book are the integration of cultural, gender, poverty, and marginalization issues into each discussion, as well as the contributions of internationally noted academic and professional experts. U.N. and NGO personnel provided input and feedback on each chapter to provide the best working guidelines available for those responding to trauma around the world.

Massive traumatic stress resulting from armed conflict and terrorism is a prime concern of governments, non-government organizations and the United Nations. Yet there is little systematic knowledge of how to address psychological problems of these proportions. These situations are further complicated by the lack of culturally appropriate models for mental health care in many low-income countries. This volume describes a variety of public mental health and psychosocial programs in conflict and post-conflict situations in Africa and Asia. Each chapter details the psychosocial and mental health aspects of specific conflicts and examines them within their sociopolitical and historical contexts. Trauma, War, and Violence: Public Mental Health in Socio-Cultural Context will be of great interest to psychologists, social workers, anthropologists, historians, human rights experts, and psychiatrists working or interested in the field of psychotrauma.