The time to act is now: proactive resilience for mental health in children in regions of conflict
- Open Access
- 01.12.2024
- Correspondence
Erschienen in:
To the Editor,
The situation in the Middle East especially Palestine has once again brought to light concern for the mental health of children in areas of conflict around the world. Gaza has 2.3 million residents, half of whom are under 15 years of age [1, 2]. This is a crisis of gargantuan proportions and we must be unanimous in our call to save the mental health of children in the region. Similar crises are simmering in other war torn zones such as Syria [3], Ukraine [4] and Kashmir [5]. These will leave behind generations of children affected in its wake.
The effect of war on children’s health is well documented, with the mental and psychological repercussions persisting long after cessation of hostilities [6, 7]. These mental health problems arising from children exposed to war are the result of complex factors that serve to increase the risk, or be protective of, these issues [8, 9]. These factors can be classified into various domains namely, individual, family, community and societal [8, 9]. A strategy addressing these factors is needed to promote resilience.
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Resilience as a concept has evolved over time, initially considered to be simply an inherent trait of an individual against stress [10]. Modern approaches have viewed this as a process and as a result, enabled the idea that it can be fostered through the alteration of modifiable emotional, social and behavioral factors [10]. Resilience is therefore now viewed to be a product of these interactions between an individual and their environment and can be classified into proactive and reactive [11, 12].
Proactive resilience is the ability to adapt to change as well as to predict problems arising in the future and to bounce back from these unfavorable conditions if they occur, while reactive resilience is mainly the behavioral response to enduring adverse conditions as they arise [11, 12]. While these two types of resilience complement each other [12], it is important that strategies aimed at improving the mental health in children in war zones serve to be cognizant of the fluid situation around them.
Given the constantly changing dynamics of war, a focus on promoting proactive resilience in children in these regions should be prioritized. Reactive resilience, which serves to be a response to adverse conditions as they appear, may not be as effective in such a scenario given its inherent nature, instead, proactive resilience, which aims to be more dynamic inherently, can be more effective. It should be noted that studies comparing reactive resilience and proactive resilience in children from war zones are lacking and can serve to be further avenues of research, however, any strategy aimed at building resilience in these children should be cognizant of local contexts [10].
We must never lose sight of the big picture in this era of major crises and must universally stand with the children whose mental health is paramount. It is therefore essential to foster strategies aimed at incorporating proactive resilience to help these children recover from the devastation of war. The time to act is now.
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