Building mental health and resilience: regional and global perspectives from the inaugural Syrian American Medical Society Mental Health Mission Trip (July 2 to July 7, 2019)

Mohammad K Hamza; Kevin Clancy

doi:10.4103/ajm.ajm_157_19

Building mental health and resilience: regional and global perspectives from the inaugural Syrian American Medical Society Mental Health Mission Trip (July 2 to July 7, 2019)

Avicenna J Med. 2020 Jan 23;10(1):54-59. doi: 10.4103/ajm.ajm_157_19. eCollection 2020 Jan-Mar.

Authors

Mohammad K Hamza¹, Kevin Clancy²

Affiliations

¹ Counseling Department, Lamar University, Texas State System, Clinical Mental Health; Syrian American Medical Society, Mental Health, United States.
² Department of Psychology, Florida State University, United States.

Abstract

The Syrian conflict has resulted in the most significant refugee crisis since World War II. Current estimates suggest there are over 13.5 million Syrians in need of comprehensive humanitarian assistance as a direct result of the conflict. These humanitarian needs include mental health services to address the elevated rates of psychiatric disorders in this population. Towards this end, the Syrian American Medical Society conducted its inaugural mental health mission trip to Lebanon and Jordan from June to July 2019 to advance the state of mental health care for displaced Syrians. Following two weeks of trainings by international experts in trauma psychology, the mission concluded with a two-day scientific symposium, identifying two key elements for the advancement of humanitarian mental health care: 1) the need for community-based mental health services, and 2) the importance of transitioning from a crisis-response model in humanitarian mental health towards a model of resilience and post-traumatic growth.

Keywords: Human Devastation Syndrome (HDS); PTSD; Resilience; Syrian refugees.