Title : Mental health beyond borders: Addressing the psychological aftermath of violence and conflict
Abstract:
We are living through an era marked by large-scale mental health challenges. Never before have so many populations been simultaneously affected by violence and its bio-psychosocial consequences; war, forced displacement, starvation, large-scale accidents, the exhaustion of caregivers, as well as child abuse, neglect, and chronic sexual violence.
Both in developed and developing countries, millions are impacted. It is unrealistic to imagine addressing these problems through individualized psychotherapy alone. Mental health has long been part of the WHO’s Alma Ata vision of “Health for All,” which enshrines the right of every individual to basic healthcare. In line with this commitment, we must think beyond highly medicalized treatments and strengthen basic, scalable approaches to mental health care.
This presentation focuses on the aftermath of acute violence wars, accidents, criminal acts, and other traumatic events. Over the past two decades, research has shown that reactions to such critical incidents are deeply linked to excessive stress. These “normal” stress responses have two primary dimensions:
Physical reactions, which are universal and transcultural.
Emotional reactions, tied to crime, violence, peronal values and the lived experience of helplessness.
We now know that training peers in simple interventions can significantly improve both individual wellbeing and community resilience. This has been demonstrated in many contexts—among firefighters, airline crews, healthcare professionals, and ordinary citizens facing high stress-reactions. Promisingly, we are also seeing positive results from digital tools for stress management, such as apps guiding users through breathing exercises. Building on these insights, we are currently developing and piloting an advanced AI-powered app designed to support Ukrainian soldiers and veterans in coping with the psychological consequences of combat. To ensure a “double safety net,” the intervention also involves a trusted family member as a peer, alongside a chat function for exchanges with fellow soldiers and veterans.
In this presentation, we will share the peer-based intervention steps we have applied so far, and discuss how to train and adapt an AI application specifically for Ukrainian soldiers. We will explore the use of parameters and feedback loops to avoid iatrogenic harm, and invite creative contributions from colleagues working on soldiers’ mental health.
Once the app passes its initial testing, we plan to adapt it for other cultural and geopolitical contexts beginning with soldiers in other countries, and later broadening to additional populations affected by trauma. Our long-term vision is to also create a dedicated app for young people, who continue to suffer the consequences of growing up in an age of geopolitical instability and chronic uncertainty.
