Brochure on PTSD: If you are like many South Africans and have been the victim of violent crime, abuse, accidents, loss, or illness, you may be suffering from a very real illness – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Many victims of trauma in South Africa don’t get help because they feel emb...arrassed, they think that acting brave and tough is the ‘manly’ thing to do, they have seen so much violence that they feel ‘numb’, or they refuse to believe what happened.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’. Mental illn...ess refers to all of the diagnosable mental disorders, which are characterised by abnormalities in thinking, feelings or behaviours. Mental illness is closely related to vulnerability, both in its causes and in its effects. Globally, 14 per cent of the global burden of disease is attributed to mental illness – with 75 per cent of those affected being found in low-income countries – which includes a broad spectrum of diagnoses, from common mental illnesses such as anxiety and
substance abuse, to severe illnesses like psychosis.
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents occurs when a child is exposed to one or more events that are unexpected, uncontrollable, life-threatening, and likely to cause serious harm or injury to himself/herself or someone significantly important to the child. In response, th...e child experiences fear, hopelessness, or horror and responds with a characteristic set of physiological and psychological reactions, which perpetuates the overwhelming and confusing feelings. Symptoms are characterized into three groups: persistent, intrusive re-experiencing of traumatic recollections; avoidance of reminders/numbing; and increased arousal.
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Adapted from NTCSD - The National Child Traumatic Stress Network | Hilfe und Information in der Ulmer Onlineklinik | Accessed Online January 2019. | The CATS questionnaire is a short freely accessible screening instrument directly based on the DSM-5 criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).... It is a measure of potentially traumatic events and of posttraumatic stress symptoms.
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How to use these Guidelines
These guidelines are a general set of recommendations about how you can help someone who may be at risk of suicide.
Each individual is unique and it is important to tailor your support to that person’s needs. These recommendations therefore
may not be appropriate for... every person who may be at risk of suicide.
Also, the guidelines are designed to be suitable for providing first aid in India. They may not be suitable for other cultural
groups or for countries with different health systems.
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Purpose of these Guidelines
These guidelines are designed to help members of the public to provide first aid to someone who is at risk of suicide. The role of the first aider is to assist the person until appropriate professional help is received or the crisis resolves.
Development of these Guidel...ines
The following guidelines are based on the expert opinions of a panel of mental health professionals from Japan about how to help someone who may be at risk of suicide.
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Under the theme “Stronger Together”, the campaign aims to offer information and strategies to assist communities in the region in better coping with the psychological impact of adverse events before, during and after a disaster situation. It also aims to raise awareness to reduce the stigma abou...t seeking mental health and psychosocial support.
You can download a wide range of communication material: videos, posters, radio jingles, guidebooks.
The Caribbean is highly prone to natural hazards, including seismic activity, hurricanes, landslides and floods. These events have resulted in lost lives, serious injuries and severe damage to housing and infrastructure. A single hurricane event can affect more than one island, and completely erase the gains of many years of productivity. As a result, these unpredictable hazards create disruption and have an ongoing impact on people’s lives - affecting their mental health and psychosocial well-being.
Although everyone is affected in some way by disaster events, there are a wide range of reactions and feelings that a person can experience. People may feel overwhelmed, confused or very uncertain about what is happening. They can also feel very fearful, anxious, numb or detached. People who feel safe, connected, calm and hopeful, have access to social, physical and emotional support and find ways to help themselves after a disaster, however, will be better able to recover long-term from mental health effects
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SUI supporting material
• Person stories
• Role plays
• Multiple choice questions
• Video link
Activity 2: mhGAP SUI module – assessment and management
This is a stressful time. Take care of yourself, so you can support your children.
Updated 8 June 2020
For families, friends, colleagues of those in quarantine or self-isolation
Tips for caring for older adults. Taking care of an older adult can be both rewarding and challenging, especially during stressful situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccines are designed to give you immunity without the dangers of getting the disease. It’s common to experience some mild to moderate side effects when receiving vaccinations. This is because your immune system instructs your body to increase blood flow so more immune cells can circulate, and it ...raises your body temperature to kill the virus. Vaccines help protect us against disease and feeling mild or moderate side effects after receiving one is a sign that the vaccine and our immune system is working.
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Annals of Global Health, 87(1), p.43. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3269;
The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression, and stress) in Bangladesh and the factors associated with these symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They found that ...about 64%, 87%, and 61% of the respondents in Bangladesh reported high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively and this varied between divisions (regions), more in women, those who self-quarantined, and those that experienced classical symptoms of COVID-19. We think there is a need for mental health support in this population to minimise the long term effects.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) is releasing the second edition of its Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!) guidance. The document aims to equip governments to respond to the health and well-being challenges, opportunities and needs of adolescents.
The guidance pro...vides the latest available data on adolescent health and well-being. It also outlines an updated list of core indicators that data should be collected on. Globally, road injury was the top cause of death for adolescent males in 2019. Among female adolescents, the leading causes of death were diarrhoeal diseases among the younger group (10-14 years) and tuberculosis (TB) in the older group (15-19 years).
Over the last 20 years, mortality rates have declined among adolescents globally, with the largest decline in older (15–19 years) adolescent girls. For non-fatal diseases, the burden has not improved over the past two decades, with the main causes of ill health in this category being: mental health conditions (depressive and anxiety disorders, childhood behavioural disorders), iron deficiency anaemia, skin diseases and migraine.
Adolescent well-being depends on a range of factors, including healthy food, education, life skills and employability, connectedness, feeling valued by society, safe and supportive environments, resilience, and the freedom to make choices. To take an appropriately holistic approach, the guidance outlines how to take crosscutting action to support adolescent health and well-being, with mutually reinforcing interventions across sectors, such as health, education, social protection, and telecommunications. Targeted efforts are also required to engage adolescents, as they trust health systems less than adults do and are especially vulnerable to modern-day trends, like online bullying and gaming.
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Mental wellbeing does not mean being happy all the time and it does not mean you won’t experience negative or painful emotions, such as grief, loss, or failure, which are a part of normal life. However, whatever your age, mindfulness can help
you lead a mentally healthier life and improve your we...llbeing.
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