ABSTRACT
The Gaza Strip is a notoriously high-conflict area, but few large-scale studies have examined the rates of psychiatric distress and emotional/behavioral problems among Gaza youth, and there are few trauma-informed, scaleable intervention options. Studies in existence have used smaller samples or have examined focal problems such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or aggression. Here, we examine the mental health burden of young individuals (ages 8-13) in Gaza across a broad range of symptoms, and demonstrate the impact of a community-based, trauma-informed program, Eye to the Future. At the outset of this supportive youth program, over 2000 children and adolescent youth and their parents reported on child well-being using standardized measures with established global norms (the Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self Report). These measures examine symptoms broadly (e.g. anxiety, depression, social problems, attention problems, aggression, etc.). Relative to U.S. population estimates, children in Gaza had between 2.5- and 17-times higher point prevalence of clinical mental health problems. The most significant clinical concern was anxiety, but overall, their symptoms were not confined to posttraumatic stress as a disorder and were instead broadly dispersed. However, these concerns were responsive to intervention: over the course of a six-month community psychosocial program, symptoms ameliorated, with approximately 50-70% showing reliable improvement at post-program (varying by measure). These gains were maintained in a 9-month follow-up. Future work should consider the broader mental health impact, beyond PTSD and aggression, and incorporate community supports into addressing mental health among children in the region.
ABSTRACT
In the field of emotion regulation studies, cognitive reappraisal has been established as the preferred strategy for coping with painful negative feelings. For some, however, asking them to think more about an already distressing situation can be quite literally "like pulling teeth." Indeed, many people voluntarily cause themselves physical pain during upsetting situations (e.g., getting a deep tissue massage after a stressful week or hitting a punching bag when angry); however, there is currently little empirical evidence of the relative effectiveness of such behaviors. The present study tested two primary hypotheses: (a) some people will choose to inflict pain to regulate negative emotional states; and (b) pain provides effective short-term relief from negative emotion. The findings from these two studies demonstrate that, given the opportunity, participants will choose to use physical pain in addition to other strategies, like reappraisal or distraction, to cope with various sources of negative emotion. We further show that physical sensation in general, and pain in particular, are equally effective in coping with negative emotion. These results suggest a reconsideration of the dominance of cognitively based emotion regulation. We discuss the implication that benign physical pain may be a broadly effective and underrecognized coping strategy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).