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The Truth About Mental Helath: The Truth About Mental Health

The Truth About...: The Truth About Mental Health: Episode 2: Mental Health: Children and War

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Syrian refugee children play in the Za’atari refugee camp

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Episode 2: Mental Health: Children and War

The Truth About Mental Health

Mental Health: Children and War

BBC World Service - The Truth About..., The Truth About Mental Health, Mental Health: Children and War

Protecting young minds – the impact of war and conflict on children

Children are the innocent victims of war and it’s a myth that they’re resilient and always bounce back.  Claudia Hammond investigates what does help to alleviate their suffering

It's a common misconception that children, unlike adults, are so resilient that they can bounce back from the emotional and psychological impact of war and conflict.  The evidence contradicts this and world experts in the field warn that, while some children do recover fully from exposure to the horrors of war, others experience long-term mental health problems. 

As the war and fighting in Syria continues to claim more lives and destroy many others, Claudia Hammond reports from Jordan on how this latest conflict is exposing yet another generation to the traumatic impact of violence, killing and loss. She investigates what actually helps to alleviate the suffering of these children and prevent a life-time of recurring emotional distress. 

From the Al Zatari refugee camp in the north of Jordan she hears about the scale of the challenge facing international organisations like Save the Children. And she meets a group of Syrian mental health professionals from the Arab Foundation for Care of Victims of War and Torture who, as refugees themselves, are running a mass outreach programme, developed by some of the world's leaders in child trauma at the Children and War Foundation, to teach as many Syrian children as possible, psychological techniques and coping strategies.

The Truth About...: The Truth About Mental Health

BBC World Service

Claudia Hammond explores the different attitudes and definitions of mental health and mental wellbeing around the world.

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The Truth About...

The Truth About Mental Health

Episode 2: Mental Health: Children and War

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