Research in humanitarian settings – referred to here as areas affected by disasters and armed conflicts – has shown diverse impacts of such crises on the mental health and psychosocial well-being of populations. These consequences range from resilience (good mental health despite exposure to significant adversity), non-disordered psychological distress, to increased mental disorders, including anxiety (eg, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)), depressive, and substance use disorders.1–3 In addition, mental health practitioners in humanitarian settings frequently encounter people with severe pre-existing neuropsychiatric disorders (eg, psychotic disorders and epilepsy).4 Moreover, disasters and armed conflicts have been shown to impact the social conditions that shape mental health, through increased poverty, threats to human rights, domestic and community violence and changed social relations.5
To address negative impacts, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programmes are increasingly a standard component of humanitarian response. MHPSS has…