Mental health and psychosocial consequences of armed conflict and natural disasters

Nature Emergency settings, including areas of armed conflict and natural disasters, feature the following characteristics: unpredictability harm to individuals, communities and societies short-and long-term psychological consequences. Prevalence Due to difficulties in gaining accurate information from adequate assessments in the acute phase, and under-reporting of symptoms, it is difficult to establish prevalence accurately; People living in resource constrained countries are more likely to experience natural disasters and armed conflict than those living in high income settings; In situations of armed conflict millions of adolescents and their families are displaced internally and across national borders and are potentially affected; Natural disasters affect thousands of adolescents including leading to their displacement; Adolescents appear to be disproportionately at risk for harm through sexual violation in situations of armed conflict; Adolescents are more likely than younger children to be exposed to mutilated and dead bodies in emergency situations; Symptoms of psychological distress are to be expected in the early adjustment phase after a disaster and therefore do not represent manifestations of a disorder and lead to overestimates of clinically significant conditions; There is nevertheless a large body of data suggesting that mood disorders and anxiety disorders are prevalent among adolescents in affected populations; More rarely psychotic disorders and other major mental illness may occur either de novo or as recurrence of a pre-existing condition; Symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder are not equivalent to PTSD the disorder and this distinction is often not clear in the available evidence; PTSD is a construct developed in high income Anglophone settings and may not be applicable in all cultures and contexts. © 2011 The Author(s).