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The mental health consequences of being a child soldier — an international perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Aoife R. Singh  and
Ashok N. Singh
Aoife R. Singh
Affiliation:
Leicester, UK, email [email protected]
Ashok N. Singh
Affiliation:
Psychiatrist, Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, UK
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Abstract

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Worldwide there are currently 300 000 child soldiers. Not only does the use of child soldiers lead to individual suffering but it also alters the dynamics of war and makes conflict and instability more likely. It is important both to prevent recruitment and to rehabilitate former child soldiers into their communities. For rehabilitation and reintegration programmes to be effective, it is necessary to understand the consequences of child soldiering. This paper reviews and summarises some of the key findings related to the mental health consequences of being a child soldier.

Type
Thematic Paper — Child Soldiers
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 55 - 57
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2010

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