Mental health following armed conflict

Abstract

You take a break from psychiatry training to spend some time working in a children's rehabilitation center in an East African country. The region is a conflict zone which has become notorious for child abduction, and many of the children in the center have experienced psychological trauma. You consider the likely mental health consequences of widespread psychological trauma in a population. You find that local management of these children differs significantly from that in the UK. You begin to understand differences in the cultural concept of mental health between East Africa and the UK. It is clear that Western approaches must be adapted if they are to be useful in treating mental health in such regions.