Exposure to War, Violence, Shootings, and the Impact of Migration

02/11/22 • 44 min

Dr. Virani focuses on exposure to war, violence, shootings, and the impact of migration. These migrants are forced to flee from their homes due to threats of violence and death due to cultural or religious beliefs. Just as traumatic for these individuals is the ability to adapt and be accepted in their new homes.

Discussed in the episode:
Cultural Psychiatry
Pre-migration stressors
Post Migration stressors
Misdiagnosis of mental health issues in the migrant population
Tips for diagnosing and working with refugees
The emergence of compulsive symptoms years after trauma
The importance to individualize each case.
Trust in leaders of the community
Working with the religious communities to identify mental health issues

Today's guests

Dr. G. Eric Jarvis is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University and Director of the Cultural Consultation Service, the First Episode Psychosis Program, and the Culture and Psychosis Working Group at the Jewish General Hospital.

Dr. Victor Pereira-Sanchez is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist based in New York. He obtained his medical degree (MD) in 2014 at Universidad de Navarra, in Spain, where he also completed a clinical residency program in psychiatry in 2019 and received his Ph.D. in 2021.

Discussed in the episode:
Cultural Psychiatry
Pre-migration stressors
Post Migration stressors
Misdiagnosis of mental health issues in the migrant population
Tips for diagnosing and working with refugees
The emergence of compulsive symptoms years after trauma
The importance to individualize each case.
Trust in leaders of the community
Working with the religious communities to identify mental health issues

Today's guests

Previous Episode

Adverse Early Life Experiences

In this episode, Dr. Virani and her guests, Dr. Qayyum and Dr. Conrad, focus on the impact of Adverse Child Experience (ACE) and Adverse Early Life Experiences (AELEs) on mental health and provide some insights through case discussions about the downstream impact of these experiences.

Subjects discussed

Inability to trust and build safe relations by victims of early childhood experiences

The effect of trauma on the social determinants of mental health as an adult

Post-traumatic growth

Unpredictable behavior of parents

The power of close good relationships for a victim of ACE.

This episode is the second in a series covering the social determinants of mental health.

Dr. Zheala Qayyum is the Training Director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program and the Medical Director of the Emergency Psychiatry Services at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She also serves as an officer in the United States Army reserves medical corps

Dr. Rachel Conrad is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is now director of the Child Psychiatry Track in the BWH/ HMS Psychiatry Residency Program.

Listen to this podcast on your favorite podcast platform or here

Other APA podcasts

Social Determinants of Mental Health book

Next Episode

Climate Change

Dr. Virani focuses on the impact of Climate Change, and associated emergent anxieties, on our underlying mental health. Climate Change is affecting our livelihoods, our environments and our perceptions of the future; with implications on how we act and how we perceive our day-to-day lives. Virani (and guests) consider examples of patients presenting with climate-change specific conditions, discuss case-histories, and look for evidence that organizations are acting to address the causes and effects of Climate Change. Discussed in the episode:

Current data on Climate Change anxiety as a factor impacting mental health (3:00)
Case study: “Jim” (5:15)
Transformational Resilience (7:00)
Don’t Look Up (11:45)
Examples of improvement in climate change response at APA (13:15)
Mental-health factors affecting “Jim” (15:15)
Case-study: “Hannah” (18:30)
Mental-health factors affecting “Hannah” (21:52)
APA conference carbon footprint study (24:45)

Guests:

Elizabeth Haase is Medical Director of Psychiatry for Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Nevada at Reno School of Medicine. She chairs the Committees on Climate Change and Mental Health for the American Psychiatric Association and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry and is a founding member of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance.
Joshua Wortzel is a chief resident in psychiatry at the University of Rochester, and he will be starting his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Brown University in June. During residency, he is pursuing a Master’s in Health Professions Education at the University of Rochester. He is a member of the APA Committee on Climate and Mental Health, a steering committee member of the non-profit Climate Psychiatry Alliance, and a participant of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry – Climate Committee. He also serves as the chair of the APA/APAF Leadership Fellowship.

Links: Visit the CPA website here.

The effects of Climate Change on Mental Health film

Carbon Footprint JAMA article Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay, 2021) is available on Netflix.

Climate Psychiatry: What Every Psychiatrist Should Know APA course

More podcasts from the American Psychiatric Association