Trauma and resettlement: lessons learned from a mental health screening and treatment programme for Syrian refugees in the UK.

Resettlement schemes can offer refugees an opportunity to rebuild their lives and to heal from loss and trauma. Mental health services in host countries may have an important role to play in aiding refugees in this journey to recovery. However, facilitating the process of healing for refugees raises challenges for mental health services working within Western medicalised settings.

Mental health of unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents previously held in British detention centres.

Aim: To investigate whether the mental health of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) was negatively affected by having their ages disputed and being detained.

Method: Participants within this cross-sectional study were 35 UASC, aged between 13 and 17 when they were detained. Some years later, a team of child mental health professionals interviewed them to assess their current mental health and to determine, as far as possible, the impact that having their age disputed and being detained may have had on their mental health.

Emotional Processing in Individuals with Substance Use Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Previous research has shown that individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have emotional processing difficulties. However, no studies have specifically investigated the role of emotional processing in those with co-morbid SUD-PTSD. This study investigated whether there are more emotional processing abnormalities among patients with SUD-PTSD, than those with either a single diagnosis of PTSD or SUD.

The mental and physical health difficulties of children held within a British immigration detention center: a pilot study.

Objective: The present study aimed to assess the mental and physical health of children held within a British immigration detention center.

Method: A total of 24 detained children (aged 3 months to 17 years) were assessed with their parents or carer after being referred by a registered legal charity. Thirteen were seen by a pediatrician alone, 4 by a psychologist alone, and 7 by both professions using semi-structured clinical interviews.

Practitioner review: assessment and treatment of refugee children and adolescents who have experienced war-related trauma.

Background: Increasingly clinicians are being asked to assess and treat young refugees, who have experienced traumatic events due to war and organised violence. However, evidence-based guidance remains scarce.

Method: Published studies on the mental health difficulties of refugee children and adolescents, associated risk and protective factors, as well as effective interventions, particularly those designed to reduce war-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, were identified and reviewed.