Leyla Akoury Dirani
American University of Beirut, Lebonan
Title: Childhood and adolescent mental health and transgenerational and cumulative traumata in the Middle East region
Biography
Biography: Leyla Akoury Dirani
Abstract
The Middle East has lived decades of wars and displacements. More recently the world has witnessed major population displacements after the ISIS reign. Displaced as well as hosting communities experience traumatic events, cultural tensions and increase of the communitarianism and youth radicalization. This phenomenon contaminated the western world. This presentation will give an overview of the situation in the Arab region and will particularly focus on the case of Lebanon. The leading question will be whether the ongoing turmoil has created resiliency or helplessness in Arab children and adolescents. To try to give an answer, we will analyze the prevalence of mental health disorders in children and adolescents, the trajectories of posttraumatic stress symptoms in refugee population and the impact of the psychosocial interventions on their wellbeing. Future perspectives for more eff ective mental health and psychosocial supports are discussed.