The mental health of war-damaged populations

Abstract

This article draws upon the psychiatric, psychoanalytic and anthropological literature to show that we know very little about the psychological consequences of war and upheaval in the non-Western world. The small amount we do know suggests that while suffering is often intense, many of the therapeutic responses on offer are inappropriate as they are informed by psychiatric and psychoanalytic thought and practice which have little relevance to the majority of people living in the non-Western world.