AsianSTSS
AsianSTSS was founded for professionals to advance knowledge about the nature and consequences of highly stressful events and to provide a forum for the sharing of research, clinical strategies, public policy concerns and theoretical formulations on trauma around the Asian region, as well as promoting high standards and ethical practice in the trauma field.
Posttraumatic resilience in former Ugandan child soldiers
Child development. The present research examines posttraumatic resilience in extremely exposed children and adolescents based on interviews with 330 former Ugandan child soldiers. Despite severe trauma exposure, 27.6% showed posttraumatic resilience as indicated by the absence of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and clinically significant behavioral and emotional problems. Among these former child soldiers, posttraumatic resilience was associated with lower exposure to domestic violence, lower guilt cognitions, less motivation to seek revenge, better socioeconomic situation in the family, and more perceived spiritual support. Among the youth with significant psychopathology, many of them had symptoms extending beyond the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, in keeping with the emerging concept of developmental trauma disorder.
Visits to detained torture victims by the ICRC (I): Management, documentation, and follow-up
What good and what harm can visits to detained torture victims do? This question is deliberately provocative, for it may seem somewhat unreasonable to wonder how visits to prisoners (l) who have been seriously ill-treated and even tortured could themselves do harm if those visits are carried out by an independent organization staffed by well-intentioned individuals following recognized procedures .
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/other/57jqum.htm
Shedding light on a dark practice. Using the Istanbul Protocol to document torture
A range of health and legal experts from around the world share their knowledge and experiences on documenting and reporting cases of alleged torture.
Household exposure to violence and human rights violations in western Bangladesh (II)
History of torture and other traumatic experience of violence and functional assessment of victims.Organised crime and political violence (OPV) and human rights violations has been present in Bangladesh since 1971. This study describes the patterns of OPV and human rights violations in a disturbed area of Bangladesh and assesses the physical, emotional and social functioning of victims. A detailed picture of characteristics of the victimisation is presented. The participants showed poor emotional well-being and reduced physical capacity. The results indicated that the simple and rapid method of assessment used here is a promising tool that could be used to monitor the quality and outcome of rehabilitation.
Psychosocial interventions – training manual
This training workshop module intended as a guide to train people in how to respond to the psychosocial effects of disasters. It aims to help psycho-social program administrators and trainers to give training to their staff in understanding how disasters affect children and adults, how people cope with the emotional effects of disasters and how one can facilitate community’s natural recovery process. It also aims to equip them with basics of psychosocial intervention and communication skills aimed at reducing distress, improving adaptive functioning in the face of the practical and emotional demands created by the disaster, and preventing longer-term disability.
http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/sites/default/files/documents/2367.pdf
The Colombian conflict: a description of a mental health program
Colombia has been seriously affected by an internal armed conflict for more than 40 years affecting mainly the civilian population, who is forced to displace, suffers kidnapping, extortion, threats and assassinations. Between 2005 and 2008, Médecins Sans Frontières-France provided psychological care and treatment in the region of Tolima, a strategic place in the armed conflict. The mental health program was based on a short-term multi-faceted treatment developed according to the psychological and psychosomatic needs of the population. Here we describe the population attending during 2005-2008, in both urban and rural settings, as well as the psychological treatment provided during this period and its outcomes.
http://fieldresearch.msf.org/msf/bitstream/10144/98773/1/Grais%20Conf%20Health%20Colombia.pdf
Counselling Afghanistan Torture and Trauma Survivors
The development of services to meet the needs of Afghan refugees, most of whom are traumatised by years of war and internecine violence, requires a sophisticated blend of counselling strategies and culturally-informed pragmatism. This article outlines the approach that Mehraby has found most useful in dealing with this extraordinary client population (10 pages).
http://www.startts.org.au/media/Research-Doc-Counselling-Afghan-Survivors-of-TT.pdf
Principles for the Protection of Persons With Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care
An important international standard is the United Nations Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care. It has proved to be particularly valuable in applying human rights recognised in other instruments to people with mental illness and to situations affecting them (for historical reference).
Development of a multi-layered psychosocial care system for children in areas of political violence
Few psychosocial and mental health care systems have been reported for children affected by political violence in low and middle income settings and there is a paucity of research-supported recommendations. This paper describes afield tested multi-layered psychosocial care system for children (focus age between 8-14 years), aiming to translate common principles and guidelines into a comprehensive support package