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Mental Health in Complex Emergencies
Wietse A. Tol, PhD
HealthNet TPO
Wietse A. Tol, PhD

PhD: Healing in the Aftermath
of War

Expertise in mental health and
psychosocial living throughout
the globe

Nepal: HealthNet TPO

wtol@healthnettpo.org
3
Class Objectives

After this class, students will be able to …
-  Differentiate between complex and other emergencies and
understand the relevance of these differences
-
-
Critique current methods in public mental health research in
complex emergencies
Identify gaps in current knowledge about the relationship of
mental health and complex emergencies and generate research
questions
4
Class Contents

Definitions

Problem statement

What is the paradigm shift?

Research gaps and priorities
5
Section A
Introduction to Complex Emergencies
Photo by Julien Harneis. Creative Commons BY-SA. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/
photos/julien_harneis/2531996136/sizes/l/
What Makes an Emergency Complex?
  What defines an emergency?
  What kind of emergencies are “simple” or specific and time
limited?
  What kind of emergencies are “complex”?
  What makes these emergencies complex? What are the
factors that are different from “simple” or time-limited
emergencies?
  During or after the lecture, go to the BBS area marked
Lecture 3, Section A, Slide 6 and post your thoughts
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Defining Complex Emergencies

“A humanitarian crisis in a country, region, or society where there is
total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from external
or internal conflict and which requires an international response
that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and/
or the ongoing United Nations country program” (IASC, cited in
UNHCR, 2001)

Complex emergencies denote humanitarian crises that are strongly
associated with violent, political conflicts
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Defining Collective Violence

“The instrumental use of violence by people who identify
themselves as members of a group against another group or set of
individuals, in order to achieve political, economic, or social
objectives” (WHO, 2002; p. 5)

E.g., wars/armed conflicts, terrorism, state-perpetrated violence
(e.g., disappearances, torture), genocide (intent to destroy a
homogeneous group)
9
What Do You Think about Armed Conflicts Today?

How many armed conflicts occurred globally in 2007?
-

Less than 20, 21–30, 31–40, 41–50, 51+
Since the end of the cold war, has the number of armed
conflicts …
-

Increased over time, decreased over time, stayed the same?
For how long have most of the current conflicts been going on?
-  Less than 5 years, 5–10 years, more than 10 years
Pause now and think about these questions. Then, take the survey
associated with this lecture, which can be accessed through this
lecture’s main page. Note: Survey answers are anonymous.
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