Free APA Course on Fostering Community Resilience

The American Psychiatric Association has created a course on fostering community resilience in a world that frequently experiences a broad variety of disasters, pandemics, and violence. Living through such events can directly strain health and well-being and create an environment of ongoing and persistent stress long after a given event has happened. The APA course covers some fundamental concepts and interventions related to disaster response and preventative psychiatry.

The course is free to APA (and, thus, UPA) members, provides 8 CME credits, and can be found here.

The UPA encourages anyone interested to take the course.

Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The following information is useful reading for understanding the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had and continues to have on individuals’ mental health. A long list of resources can be found on our COVID-19 Resources page, here.

How Psychiatry can Help in the Present Crisis, by Michael Kalm

The Mental-Health Crises of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Psychiatrists deemed ‘essential’ in time of COVID-19

Is COVID-19 leading to a mental illness pandemic?

COVID-19: Be Ready for the Coming Mental Health Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic has Shocked the Mental-Health System out of Complacency

Coronavirus on the Inpatient Unit: a new Challenge for Psychiatry

Pandemic is an Opportunity to Rethink Prisons

Mental Health Resources for Coping with Traumatic Events

Traumatic events can occur at any time, and can have large impacts on mental health both in individuals and in populations at large. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) offers tips and other mental health resources on how to minimize possible mental and emotional effects of trauma caused by a disaster.

Traumas and disasters can have tremendous psychological impacts on those who are affected directly and indirectly. Most people will do well after a traumatic event; some may emerge even stronger. Individuals who are affected may have various stress reactions that present psychological, as well as physical, symptoms.

However, there are steps that individuals can take for themselves and their families to lessen the psychosomatic impacts felt by the community at large and those involved in the event.

After an event has passed, the APA recommends following these steps to begin coping with the possible devastation and stress that follows:

1. Keep informed about new information and developments, but avoid overexposure to news rebroadcasts of the events. Be sure to use credible information sources to avoid speculation and rumors.

2. Learn what local resources are available to aid those affected by the tragedy and be prepared to share this information.

3. If you feel upset, you are not alone. Common reactions to trauma include anxiety, depression, irritability, difficulty sleeping, isolating yourself from others and increased use of alcohol and tobacco to manage your emotions. Talking with friends, family or colleagues who likely are experiencing the same feelings may help.

4. If you have contact with children, keep open dialogues with them regarding their fears of danger and the traumatic event. Let them know that in time, the tragedy will pass. Don’t minimize the danger, but talk about your ability to cope with tragedy and get through the ordeal.

5. Feelings of anxiety and depression following a traumatic event are natural. You may want to seek psychiatric care if:

   1. you are having increasing problems at home or work

   2. you are using more alcohol

   3. your symptoms don’t get better after a few days (or are getting worse)

   4. you just don’t feel right

   5. a loved one or colleague comments that you don’t seem like yourself

Your primary care provider or Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) can help connect you with mental health services.

For more information on coping with mental illnesses, visit the APA’s patient / public education website: www.psychiatry.org/mental-health

Information on coping after a disaster or tragedy is available at http://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/coping-after-disaster-trauma

The APA Blog includes several posts about Coping After Tragedy and Talking to Children About Disasters.

Refugees

This is an educational video on the critical issue of promoting refugees’ mental health. Refugee children and families are at high risk for mental illness. This video highlights the story of a loving family escaping war. The video explain the challenges and trauma of being a refugee. It breaks down the walls of stigma surrounding seeking treatment and provides the viewer with resources. I developed this video as the Project Leader of the 2018 AACAP Advocacy and Collaboration grant awarded to St Louis ROCAP. Please feel free to share it with the refugees and those who work with them. I hope it will provide support for our refuges and for their families.

-Balkozar Adam, M.D.

English - https://vimeo.com/306501195/6748a91354
Arabic - https://vimeo.com/306501043/2aa5ab46af
Spanish - https://vimeo.com/306502562/4f5bb5361f
French - https://vimeo.com/306502434/f4d49f21b0
Swahili - https://vimeo.com/306502706/9453958bf6
Kinyarwanda - https://vimeo.com/306506774/a2bc2ac983
Burmese - https://vimeo.com/306506474/5eb49781d7