Children's prolonged exposure to the toxic stress of war trauma in the Middle East

Muthanna Samara; Sara Hammuda; Panos Vostanis; Basel El-Khodary; Nader Al-Dewik

doi:10.1136/bmj.m3155

Children's prolonged exposure to the toxic stress of war trauma in the Middle East

BMJ. 2020 Nov 19:371:m3155. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3155.

Authors

Muthanna Samara¹, Sara Hammuda², Panos Vostanis³, Basel El-Khodary⁴, Nader Al-Dewik^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Kingston University London, United Kingdom m.samara@kingston.ac.uk.
² Department of Psychology, Kingston University London, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Islamic University Gaza, Palestine.
⁵ Department of Paediatrics and Interim Translational Research Institute (iTRI), Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and College of Health and Life Science (CHLS), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

Conflict leads to toxic stress and health problems in childhood and beyond. Long term investment in evidence informed mitigation strategies is needed to end the devastating cycles of violence, write Muthanna Samara and colleagues

MeSH terms

Child
Female
Humans
Male
Middle East / epidemiology
Neurodevelopmental Disorders / epidemiology
Neurodevelopmental Disorders / etiology
Neurodevelopmental Disorders / psychology*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / epidemiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / etiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology*
War Exposure / adverse effects*