Disaster response psychology needs to change

I’ve got an article in today’s Observer about how disaster response mental health services are often based on the erroneous assumption that everyone needs ‘treatment’ and often rely on single-session counselling sessions which may do more harm than good.

Unfortunately, the article has been given a rather misleading headline (‘Minds traumatised by disaster heal themselves without therapy’) which suggests that mental health services are not needed. This is not the case and this is not what the article says.

What it does say is that the common idea of disaster response is that everyone affected by the tragedy will need help from mental health professionals when only a minority will.

It also says that aid agencies often use single-session counselling sessions which have been found to raise the risk of long-term mental health problems. This stems from a understandable desire to ‘do something’ but this motivation is not enough to actually help.

Disaster, war, violence and conflict, raise the number of mental health problems in the affected population. The appropriate response is to build or enhance high-quality, long-term, culturally relevant mental health services – not parachuting in counsellors to do single counselling sessions.

Link to article on disaster response psychology in The Observer.

View the original article here

TED’s first response to Bryan Stevenson’s talk on injustice

Photo: Duncan Davidson

Bryan Stevenson’s talk inspired one of the longest and loudest standing ovations in TED’s history. And it provoked a blizzard of requests from audience members that we find a way to support the work of his nonprofit organization, the Equal Justice Initiative.

When I asked Bryan about funding needs, this is what he said: “We are trying to raise $1.5 million for a campaign that ends excessive sentencing of children and stops the practice of putting kids in adult jails and prisons, where they are 10 times more likely than other incarcerated people to be the victims of sexual assault and violence. We just started this effort, and support from the TED community could be huge. I’ll be arguing a case in the U.S. Supreme Court on this issue next month.”

So the next day, I invited members of the audience to contribute. In just a few minutes 6 people pledged $100,000 each, 18 pledged $10,000 and more than 100 pledged $1,000. With subsequent pledges received by text and email, and a $100,000 contribution from TED itself, I was able to write to Bryan confirming that TED will be writing his organization a check for $1.12m.

But beyond that, it’s clear that many people who saw this talk want ongoing involvement on this issue. Bryan’s organization can be contacted directly here. And TED is committed to making this issue a core part of its TED Prize initiative on The City 2.0. The thinking here is that the future of cities and massive incarceration levels are inextricably linked. If huge numbers of families are missing their fathers, it’s hard to imagine how inner-city renewal takes place. The City 2.0 initiative is all about empowering citizens in every city to work together to shape their city’s future. So we plan to work with Bryan to build a system that will allow people to take action locally on this issue. If you have thoughts on how this could be done, or wish to offer help, please write to tedprize@ted.com.

It’s truly thrilling to see what happens when someone comes to TED and induces a whole new view of the world in our audience — and does so in such a powerful and inspiring way. I suspect the response to this talk will be equally massive online. If you haven’t yet seen it, you really must. It’s here.

– Chris Anderson

View the original article here

A response to the Baroness

The Independent have just published a letter I wrote to them in response to their recent opinion piece by Susan Greenfield.

She claims that computers are at risk of causing ‘mind change’ while scientists are ignoring the issue. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

I was interested to read Professor Susan Greenfield’s opinion piece “Computers may be altering or brains – we must ask how” (12 August), where she laments that other scientists are refusing to debate the issue of how the internet and computer technology are affecting the mind and brain. She also claims that other scientists are dismissing her concerns by saying “there’s no evidence”.

This is clearly nonsense. There are over 3,000 scientific studies on the effect of technology on the mind and brain and a scientific community actively engaged in this debate, all of which Greenfield chooses to ignore in favour of her own alarmist conclusions. I am sure this is not simple unawareness, because Professor Greenfield specifically invited me to present the evidence to her at a debate on this topic at the House of Lords. The transcript is available on her own website. [You can download it as a pdf]

If Professor Greenfield wishes to engage in the debate about the impact of technology she is more than welcome to join the research community and discuss the evidence behind her concerns. So far, this evidence does not suggest that children’s or anyone else’s brains are being damaged by mobile phones, email, or Facebook. We know each has its own balance of effects, positive and negative, like all other media (newspapers included).

But instead of engaging with the evidence, Greenfield uses her media profile to communicate her ill-informed concerns to the public at large. This is neither helpful to science nor to concerned parents attempting to understand how they can best help their children use technology to their benefit.

The professor clearly has good intentions, but to become genuinely helpful she needs to be aware about what we actually know about the impact of technology. I would welcome her informed contribution to the debate.

Although I won’t be holding my breath.

Link to Independent letters page for 18th August.

View the original article here

A civil response to violence: Emiliano Salinas on TED.com

In this passionate talk from TEDxSanMigueldeAllende that’s already caused a sensation in Mexico, Emiliano Salinas, son of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, confronts the current climate of violence in Mexico — or rather, how Mexican society responds to it. He calls on ordinary citizens to move from denial and fear to peaceful, community-based action. This is the first talk posted on TED.com that was delivered in a language other than English. (It has English subtitles by default. Translated by Carolina Montero and Sebastian Betti.) (Recorded at TEDxSanMigueldeAllende, November 2010 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Duration: 12:17)

Watch Emiliano Salinos’ talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 900+ TEDTalks.

View the original article here