Tag: Psychological Well-being

What is the Intergenerational Impact of War on Mental Health & Psychosocial Wellbeing?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Research Paper Title

The intergenerational impact of war on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing: lessons from the longitudinal study of war-affected youth in Sierra Leone.

Background

Globally, one in four children lives in a country affected by armed conflict or disaster often accompanied by exposure to a range of adversities including violent trauma and loss. Children involved with armed groups (often referred to as “child soldiers”) typically exhibit high levels of mental health needs linked to their experiences.

The Longitudinal Study of War-Affected Youth (LSWAY) in Sierra Leone is a seventeen-year prospective longitudinal study of the long-term effects of children’s experiences in the country’s eleven-year (1991-2002) civil war on their adult mental health and functioning in addition to exploring the potential mechanisms by which intergenerational transmission of emotional and behavioral disruptions due to war trauma may operate.

LSWAY illuminates how war-related and post-conflict experiences shape long-term adult functioning, family dynamics, and developmental outcomes in offspring

Discussion

The LSWAY study utilises mixed methodologies that incorporate qualitative and quantitative data to unpack risk and protective factors involved in social reintegration, psychosocial adjustment, parenting, and interpersonal relationships.

To date, study findings demonstrate striking levels of persistent mental health problems among former child soldiers as adults with consequences for their families, but also risk and protective patterns that involve family- and community-level factors.

This case study examines the course of LSWAY from inception through implementation and dissemination, including building on the study results to design and evaluate several intervention models.

Conclusions

The case study offers a unique perspective on challenges and field realities of health research in a fragile, post-conflict setting common in the context of humanitarian emergencies.

LSWAY findings along with lessons learned from the field can inform future research as well as intervention research and implementation science to address the mental health and development of war-affected young people.

With four waves of data collection and a planned fifth wave, LSWAY also provides rare insights into the intergenerational effects of humanitarian crises on children, youth, and families across generations.

Reference

Betancourt, T.S., Keegan, K., Farrar, J. & Brennan, R.T. (2020) The intergenerational impact of war on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing: lessons from the longitudinal study of war-affected youth in Sierra Leone. Conflict and Health. 14:62. doi: 10.1186/s13031-020-00308-7. eCollection 2020.

Book: The Wellness Sense

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Book Title:

The Wellness Sense – A Practical Guide to your Physical and Emotional Health based on Ayurvedic and Yogic Wisdom.

Author(s): Om Swami.

Year: 2015.

Edition: First (1ed).

Publisher: Black Lotus.

Type(s): Paperback, Audiobook, and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Why do certain foods harm some people and help others? How come the same weight loss program shows different results on different individuals? And, why do some people fall sick more often than others?

Answers to these questions and many more lie in Ayurveda where your body is not just looked upon a holder of flesh and bones but the finest vehicle of experiencing all pleasures and sorrows.

In Ayurveda, as in yoga and tantra, the health of an individual is not just the state of his physical body but an aggregate of the body, senses, mind and soul. Your body is a sacred space, it is the seat of your consciousness.

The Sanskrit word for health is svasthya; it means self-dependence or a sound state of the body and mind. If examined further, it means your natural state; sva means natural and sthya means state or place.

Ayurveda aims to restore your natural state, balance so you may be free of mental and physical afflictions.

More often than not, and certainly in adults, most physical disorders are the result of a repressed and bruised consciousness. Mental afflictions create diseases in the physical body and physical diseases, in turn, disturb the state of mind.

You can treat the disease in the physical body but that’s merely treating the symptom. It is not the permanent solution.

The modern system of medicine is mostly symptom driven. If I have a headache, it’ll tell me to take a pain-killer. Ayurveda does not believe in treating the symptoms. Its advocates understanding the patient and treating the cause of the symptom and not the symptom itself.

In order to do that, the ancient scriptures took a far more holistic approach to health by combining our lifestyle with our natural tendencies (which vary from one person to another). In other words, it understood that one man’s medicine could be another man’s poison.

Expounding on the esoteric aspects of the ancient wisdom, in simple terms, this book shows you how to take care of yourself better and how to lead a healthier life in our present world – a world where we have all the comforts yet we are restless.

We have organic breakfast on the table but no time to eat it, we have the comfiest mattress but little sleep. The key to wholesome living and your well-being is entirely in your hands. This book is a must read for those who are serious about their health.

What Does Mental Health Have to Do With Well-Being?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Research Paper Title

What Does Mental Health Have to Do With Well-Being?

Background

Positive mental health involves not the absence of mental disorder but rather the presence of certain mental goods.

Institutions, practitioners, and theorists often identify positive mental health with well-being.

There are strong reasons, however, to keep the concepts of well-being and positive mental health separate.

Someone with high positive mental health can have low well-being, someone with high well-being can have low positive mental health, and well-being and positive mental health sometimes conflict.

But, while positive mental health and well-being are not identical, there is an informative conceptual connection between them.

Positive mental health usually contributes instrumentally to the living of a good human life, where a good human life includes (but is not limited to) well-being.

Reference

Keller, S. (2020) What Does Mental Health Have to Do With Well-Being? Bioethics. 34(3), pp.228-234. doi: 10.1111/bioe.12702. Epub 2019 Nov 29.

Book: Brian Changer: How Diet can Save your Mental Health

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Book Title: Brain Changer: How diet can save your mental health – cutting-edge science from an expert.

Author(s): Professor Felice Jacka.

Year: 2019.

Edition: First.

Publisher: Yellow Kite.

Synopsis:

A combination of Professor Felice Jacka’s love of food and her own experience of depression and anxiety as a young woman led her to question whether what we put in our mouths everyday affects more than our waistline. Felice set out on a journey of discovery to change the status quo and uncover the truth through rigorous science. Beginning her PhD in 2005, she examined the association between women’s diets and their mental health, focusing on depression and anxiety. She soon discovered – you feel how you eat. It is Professor Jacka’s ground-breaking research that has now changed the way we think about mental and brain health in relation to diet.

Brain Changer explains how and why we should consider our food as the basis of our mental and brain health throughout our lives. It includes a selection of recipes and meal plans featuring ingredients beneficial to mental health. It also includes the simple, practical solutions we can use to help prevent mental health problems in the first place and offers strategies for treating these problems if they do arise.

This is not a diet book to help you on the weight scales. This is a guide to good habits to save your brain and to optimise your mental health through what you eat at every stage of life.

Book: Ayurveda 101

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Book Title: Ayurveda 101: Ayurveda Basics for The Absolute Beginner [Achieve Natural Health and Well Being through Ayurveda].

Author(s): Advait.

Year: 2016.

Edition: First.

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Synopsis:

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Ayurveda Have you been searching for proven natural remedies for Achieving Everlasting Health Holistically???

Has your search lead you to Ayurveda??? But, you don’t know where to start and are waiting to be initiated into the Amazing world of Ayurvedic Healing….Then this book is for you.

Discover :: Ayurveda 101 – Ayurveda Basics for The Absolute Beginner This Book will teach you everything you need to know about Ayurveda as a Beginner.

Here’s a sneak peak at the contents of the book; #Origin of Ayurveda #Ashtaanga Veda – The Eight branches of Ayurveda #Panch Maha Bhuta’s – The Five Fundamental Elements #The Three Dosha’s and Your Prakriti – Vata – Pitta – Kapha #The Tri-Dosha test for determining your Prakriti #Sapta-Dhatu – The Seven Body Tissues #Jathar-Agni – The Digestive Fire #Trayodasha Vega – The 13 Natural Urge’s.

The Ill Effect of Problematic Neighbourhood Environments on Spousal/Partner Relationships & Mental Health and Psychological Well-being

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Research Paper Title

Perceived neighbourhood disorder and psychological distress among Latino adults in the United States: Considering spousal/partner relationship.

Background

It has been well-established that neighbourhood disorder and disadvantage are detrimental to mental health and psychological well-being.

There has been growing research interest in minority stress issues, however, less is known about how perceived neighbourhood disorder matters for psychological well-being among Latino adults in the United States.

Methods

Analysing data from National Latino Asian American Study, 2002-2003, the present study investigates the relationships among perceived neighbourhood disorder, spousal/partner relationships (i.e., spousal/partner strain and support), and psychological distress.

Results

The findings indicated that perceived neighbourhood disorder and spousal/partner strain were positively associated with increased psychological distress, whereas spousal/partner support had no protective effect against psychological distress.

Moreover, mediation analysis showed that the association between perceived neighbourhood disorder and psychological distress was partially mediated by spousal/partner strain (i.e., 15.13%), not spousal support.

Finally, moderation analysis revealed that the presence of spousal/partner strain exacerbated the relationship between perceived neighbourhood disorder and psychological distress. Conversely, the absence of spousal/partner strain appeared to buffer the adverse impact of neighbourhood disorder on psychological distress.

Conclusions

These findings highlighted the ill effect of problematic neighbourhood environments on the quality of the spousal/partner relationship and subsequently Latino’s psychological well-being.

Reference

Kwon, S. (2019) Perceived neighborhood disorder and psychological distress among Latino adults in the United States: Considering spousal/partner relationship. Journal of Community Psychology. doi: 10.1002/jcop.22288. [Epub ahead of print].