Mental health and conflict: a pilot of an online eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) intervention for forcibly displaced Syrian women.

Background: The Syrian conflict has been ongoing since 2011. Practical and scalable solutions are urgently needed to meet an increase in need for specialised psychological support for post-traumatic stress disorder given limited availability of clinicians. Training forcibly displaced Syrians with a mental health background to remotely deliver specialised interventions increases the availability of evidence based psychological support.

'We are trying to live in a normal way, but nothing is normal about us anymore…': a qualitative study of women's lived experiences of healthcare in opposition-controlled areas of Syria.

Introduction: The Syrian conflict, which has included mass killings, displacement, infrastructure destruction and illegal targeting of health facilities and staff mainly by the Syrian government and allies, is in its 10th year. This study explored the lived experiences of women within healthcare, both as health workers and service users, in Syrian opposition-controlled areas (OCAs).

Methods: We chose a qualitative study design, with 20 in-depth interviews conducted remotely over WhatsApp and Messenger with purposively sampled Syrian women (ie, 15 health workers, 5 service users).

Family functioning but not social capital is associated with better mental health in adolescents affected by violence and displacement by armed conflict in Colombia.

Background: The effect of the Colombian armed conflict on the mental health of adolescents is still poorly understood.

Aims: Given social interventions are most likely to inform policy, we tested whether two potential intervention targets, family functioning and social capital, were associated with mental health in Colombian adolescents, and whether this was moderated by experience of violence and displacement.

Methods: We examined the cross-sectional association between family functioning, cognitive social capital, structural social capital and 12-month prevalence of Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) diagnosed psychiatric disorder, using data on 12 to 17-year-old adolescents ( = 1,754) from the 2015 National Mental Health Survey of Colombia, a nationally representative epidemiological study.

Qualitative accounts from Syrian mental health professionals: shared realities in the context of conflict and forced displacement.

Objectives: To explore the impact of the provision of care of forcibly displaced Syrian mental health professionals (MHPs) to Syrian clients in the community given shared experiences and backgrounds with clients.

Design: A qualitative study using thematic analysis of in-depth semistructured interviews to explore shared realities, self-disclosure and the impact of providing therapy.

Setting: Syrian MHPs operating in Gaziantep and Istanbul, Turkey, were interviewed.

Psychological, social, and welfare interventions for torture survivors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Background: Torture and other forms of ill treatment have been reported in at least 141 countries, exposing a global crisis. Survivors face multiple physical, psychological, and social difficulties. Psychological consequences for survivors are varied, and evidence on treatment is mixed.

The mindful eye: Smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements in meditators and non-meditators.

Background: This study examined the effects of cultivated (i.e. developed through training) and dispositional (trait) mindfulness on smooth pursuit (SPEM) and antisaccade (AS) tasks known to engage the fronto-parietal network implicated in attentional and motion detection processes, and the fronto-striatal network implicated in cognitive control, respectively.

Acoustic prepulse inhibition: one ear is better than two, but why and when?

We examined whether monaural prepulses produce more prepulse inhibition (PPI) because they might be more attention capturing (unambiguous to locate) than binaural prepulses. Monaural and binaural PPI was tested under normal and verbal and visuospatial attention manipulation conditions in 55 healthy men, including 29 meditators. Attention manipulations abolished monaural PPI superiority, similarly in meditators and meditation-naïve individuals, and this was most strongly evident for right ear PPI under visuospatial attention manipulation.

The relationship between awareness of intellectual disability, causal and intervention beliefs and social distance in Kuwait and the UK.

Evidence on lay beliefs and stigma associated with intellectual disability in an Arab context is almost non-existent. This study examined awareness of intellectual disability, causal and intervention beliefs and social distance in Kuwait. These were compared to a UK sample to examine differences in lay conceptions across cultures.