The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence.

Many people are exposed to loss or potentially traumatic events at some point in their lives, and yet they continue to have positive emotional experiences and show only minor and transient disruptions in their ability to function. Unfortunately, because much of psychology’s knowledge about how adults cope with loss or trauma has come from individuals who sought treatment or exhibited great distress, loss and trauma theorists have often viewed this type of resilience as either rare or pathological. The author challenges these assumptions by reviewing evidence that resilience represents a distinct trajectory from the process of recovery, that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma is more common than is often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience. M ost people are exposed to at least one violent or life-threatening situation during the course of their lives (Ozer, Best, Lipsey, & Weiss, 2003). As people progress through the life cycle, they are also increasingly confronted with the deaths of close friends and relatives. Not everyone copes with these potentially disturbing events in the same way. Some people experience acute distress from which they are unable to recover. Others suffer less intensely and for a much shorter period of time. Some people seem to recover quickly but then begin to experience unexpected health problems or difficulties concentrating or enjoying life the way they used to. However, large numbers of people manage to endure the temporary upheaval of loss or potentially traumatic events remarkably well, with no apparent disruption in their ability to function at work or in close relationships, and seem to move on to new challenges with apparent ease. This article is devoted to the latter group and to the question of resilience in the face of loss or potentially traumatic events. The importance of protective psychological factors in the prevention of illness is now well established (Taylor, Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000). Moreover, developmental psychologists have shown that resilience is common among children growing up in disadvantaged conditions (e.g., Masten, 2001). Unfortunately, because most of the psychological knowledge base regarding the ways adults cope with loss or potential trauma has been derived from individuals who have experienced significant psychological problems or sought treatment, theorists working in this area have often underestimated and misunderstood resilience, viewing it either as a pathological state or as something seen only in rare and exceptionally healthy individuals. In this article, I challenge this view by reviewing evidence that resilience in the face of loss or potential trauma represents a distinct trajectory from that of recovery, that resilience is more common than often believed, and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to resilience.

/pdf/loss-trauma-and-human-resilience-have-we-underestimated-the-2kd7sl9mfq.pdf

Loss, Trauma, and Human Resilience Have We Underestimated the Human Capacity to Thrive After Extremely Aversive Events?

Meta-analyses were conducted on 14 separate risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the moderating effects of various sample and study characteristics, including civilian/military status, were examined. Three categories of risk factor emerged: Factors such as gender, age at trauma, and race that predicted PTSD in some populations but not in others; factors such as education, previous trauma, and general childhood adversity that predicted PTSD more consistently but to a varying extent according to the populations studied and the methods used; and factors such as psychiatric history, reported childhood abuse, and family psychiatric history that had more uniform predictive effects. Individually, the effect size of all the risk factors was modest, but factors operating during or after the trauma, such as trauma severity, lack of social support, and additional life stress, had somewhat stronger effects than pretrauma factors.

Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults.

* Caring for children * The origins of attachment theory * Psychoanalysis as art and science * Psychoanalysis as a natural science * Violence in the family * On knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not supposed to feel * The role of attachment in personality development * Attachment, communication, and the therapeutic process * Developmental psychiatry comes of age

A Secure Base. Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development. New York (Basic Books) 1988.

From social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium.

Preventive aspects of occupational mental health

20 – The management of bereavement

Background: Natural disasters affect the health and wellbeing of adults throughout the world. There is some debate in the literature as to whether older persons have increased risk of mental health outcomes after exposure to natural disasters when compared to younger adults. To date, no systematic review has evaluated this.
Objectives: We aimed to synthesise the available evidence on the impact of natural disasters on the mental health and psychological distress experienced by older adults. 
Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted on papers identified through a systematic review. The primary outcomes measured were post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
depression, anxiety disorders, and adjustment disorder.
Findings: We identified six papers with sufficient data for a
random effects meta-analysis. Older adults were 2.11 times
more likely to experience PTSD symptoms when exposed
to natural disasters when compared to younger adults.
Conclusions: Recent decades have seen a global rise in the
numbers of older adults affected by natural disasters, implying that an increasing number of the older adults will find
themselves “in harm’s way” amid community disruption and
distress. Mental health service providers need to be prepared to meet the mental health needs of older persons,
and be particularly vigilant after natural disasters to ensure,
in particular, early detection and management of PTSD.

Mental health implications for older adults after natural disasters - a systematic review and meta-analysis

This article examines how a public health framework can be applied to the mental health of children and adolescents. It describes the epidemiology of mental health problems in children and adolescents, some of the factors associated with an increased or a decreased risk of mental health problems, and gives examples of prevention interventions that apply a public health approach.

https://www.phrp.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NB98036.pdf

Improving the health of children in NSW: mental health issues for children

This article describes the mental health of men and boys in NSW and their utilisation of mental health services. Factors that are driving change in government policy that aim to improve mental health are explored, including the strategies of the NSW Department of Health.

/pdf/males-and-mental-health-a-public-health-approach-mp5qinsh5v.pdf

Beverley Raphael

Papers

Preventive aspects of occupational mental health

20 – The management of bereavement

Mental health implications for older adults after natural disasters - a systematic review and meta-analysis

Improving the health of children in NSW: mental health issues for children

Males and mental health: A public health approach