Single session therapy is a specific form of therapy conducted by professionals who seek to use their existing skill sets and knowledge base to address clients' presenting concerns, within one session. The session takes place with the understanding that the session might be the only one. Such single session services are currently expanding in a number of high income countries. This paper calls attention to this therapy for potential adaptation to acute emergency settings, in low and middle income countries, where offering one session may be the only option. This paper describes: (a) single session therapy as adapted in recent emergency settings; (b) the single session model in high income countries; (c) its relationship with psychological first aid; (d) the development of the model and its evidence base; and (e) the model as an intervention and a service. While single session therapy holds promise for work in humanitarian settings, there is still a need for randomised controlled studies in humanitarian settings before this therapy may be considered as recommended, evidence based, humanitarian practice.

The occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) exemplifies a situation of continuous, protracted violence and conflict. This paper explores the application of the concept of posttraumatic stress disorder to this situation of ongoing violence. It argues that using an individualised perspective ‘through a trauma lens’, may not be the most appropriate approach to Palestinian distress, but that a model based on the concept of ‘social suffering’ may be a more holistic fit, exploring how individual and collective human suffering is associated with life conditions shaped by powerful social forces. Furthermore, the author asserts that an human rights informed, social justice framework is both a comprehensive and appropriate framework to address the mental health needs of populations affected by continuous conflict. She further contends that social justice is a core principle of public health, and that to truly incorporate social justice into their work, mental health practitioners must expand their traditional roles to include elements of activism and advocacy.

Recent reviews of therapeutic photography have identified the technique's unique ability to transcend culture and language, both essential characteristics of international trauma therapy. This article describes a process, through which youth identified changes in self-perception after a photojournalism workshop, using an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach and conducted in a Shan migrant community centre in northern Thailand. The authors (a) provide a broad overview of a form of therapeutic photography utilised within a humanitarian aid context, (b) examine the concept of posttraumatic growth (PTG) within a traumatised adolescent population on the Thai/Burma border and, (c) suggest the potential for a new domain of growth as it relates to the application of Tedeshi & Calhoun's conceptual foundation of PTG (1995), within a Southeast Asian context. Results suggest that perceptions of self, and one's role in the community, did improve within the context of this project. A discussion of the limits and merits of this approach is also presented.

This paper aims to explore trends in developments in content and authors' locations and perspectives in ‘Intervention, the International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict’, from 2003 to 2012. Over this 10 year period, Intervention has published 139 peer reviewed articles, 73 field reports, 36 book reviews and 33 debate papers. The articles cover academic expertise, practical experience and debates on mental health and psychosocial interventions in the aftermath of both natural, and manmade, disasters. The authors of most papers (61%) originated from developed countries, versus 28% from low and middle income countries. Thematic analysis of the content of peer reviewed articles reveals shifting consensus and emerging new debates on mental health and psychosocial interventions. In the first years of Intervention, individual therapeutic approaches were more prominent than in later years, which saw more attention given to community based approaches. Another emerging theme is the trend to involve ‘beneficiaries’ in planning and evaluation of programmes, through participatory approaches. A significant number of peer reviewed papers (28%) describe policy development issues, such as guidelines (IASC) and processes of integration of mental health into general health care systems in post conflict settings. Recommendations are that the editorial priorities for the next years should continue strategies for increasing submissions from authors originating from areas affected by conflict, and increasing inclusion of perspectives of those who have experienced extreme events.

Lay counsellors provide valuable psychosocial support in many different circumstances, such as manning telephone helplines for cancer patients, assisting people after crisis events or giving focused support to refugees or other vulnerable groups. This paper describes the process that a consortium of four humanitarian organisations followed to develop a training guide for lay counsellors as it was found that no common training curriculum existed. The process was comprised of the following steps: 1) review of existing literature on lay counselling; 2) a mapping report to identify organisations and existing materials available on trainings for lay counsellors; 3) a needs assessment to identify the needs of trainers; 4) development of first drafts of the training material; 5) pilot trainings to gain further understanding of needs and expectations of participants and trainers from different organisational contexts; and 6) adaptation of the training materials based on pilot trainings. The final materials consist of a variety of didactic methods and allow integration of materials as a supplement to existing trainings, or for use as independent training for lay counsellors, within a wide variety of settings.

While the conflict in Syria rages on, one psychiatrist and several psychologists, all of them Syrian refugees, have founded ‘Syria Bright Future’, a volunteer organisation that provides psychosocial and mental health services to Syrian refugees in Jordan. This field report describes how the organisation assists families in settling after their harsh journey, in adapting to new living conditions and circumstances, coping with difficulties they encounter and strengthening their resilience. ‘Syria Bright Future’ does this by providing short term support and counselling, and by referring individuals and families to other international and Jordanian organisations, or to informal support networks of Syrian refugees for further assistance.

In this personal reflection, the author describes her mental health work and experience with people who have suffered from the political violence that occurred during the dictatorship in Uruguay, 1973 - 1985. She presents a personal account of the socio-political processes and her experience as a psychotherapist, from then until today. The author argues that the psychosocial trauma that has been inflicted by the state cannot be healed by only ‘mental health’ work, as the process for reparation and justice in Uruguay has been very slow and painful. Furthermore, she has observed that the impunity granted perpetrators may re-victimise survivors, and further damage their mental health. Psychological work with people affected by state terrorism requires interdisciplinary analysis and, as the author argues, mental health professionals should join in the struggles of their patients. In Uruguay, as elsewhere in Latin America, psychotherapists have formed organisations to assist the survivors, and raised their voice within the public discourse. This has contributed to breaking the silence surrounding events, and has helped to come to terms with the psychological effects of state organised violence. In her work, the author has learned the importance of exchange of information between colleagues, including colleagues from other countries.

La séance unique de thérapie est une forme de thérapie spéciale conduite par des professionnels qui souhaitent employer leurs competences et leur base de connaissances pour aborder les plaintes que présentent leurs clients en une seule session. La séance se passé dans le contexte et la compréhension que cette séance unique pourrait être la seule. Ces services de séance unique sont actuellement en expansion dans un certain nombre de pays à hauts revenus. L’article examine cette thérapie pour voir ses possibilités d’adaptation aux situations d’extrême urgence, dans les pays à bas ou moyens revenus, là où offrir une session unique pourrait être la seule option possible. L’article décrit (a) une séance unique de thérapie adaptée à de récentes situations d’urgence, (b) le modèle de séance unique dans des pays à hauts revenus, (c) ses rapports avec les premiers secours psychologiques, (d) le développement du modèle et ses bases de données probantes, et (e) le modèle en tant qu’intervention et service. Même si la séance de thérapie unique est prometteuse pour le travail dans les contextes humanitaires, il est nécessaire de faire des etudes contrôlées et randomisées dans des contextes humanitaires, avant de les considérer comme une pratique  humanitaire recommandable et basée sur des données probantes.

Терапия одной сессии - это специфическая форма терапии, проводимая специалистами, которые с помощью своих знаний и навыков пытаются помочь клиенту решить проблемы в течение одной терапевтической сессии. Сессия проводится при обоюдной договоренности и понимании того, что в ходе терапии она может стать первой и последней. Сегодня терапия одной сессии получает все большее распространение в странах с высоким уровнем дохода населения. В настоящей статье рассматривается возможная адаптация этого терапевтического метода к условиям чрезвычайных ситуаций в странах с низким и средним уровнем дохода населения, где проведение одной сессии может быть единственно доступным вариантом. Авторы обсуждают (а) терапию одной сессии, адаптированную к условиям недавно произошедших чрезвычайных ситуаций, (Ь) применение модели одной сессии в странах с высоким уровнем дохода, (с) отличие модели одной сессии от первичной психологической помощи, (d) дальнейшее развитие модели и ее доказательную базу и (е) использование модели в рамках интервенции и в рамках текущей работы помогающих служб. Несмотря на то, что терапия одной сессии представляется многообещаюшим методом в условиях чрезвычайной гуманитарной ситуации, необходимо в тех же условиях провести рандомизированных контролируемых исследовании. Только по результатам этих исследований данный вид терапии можно рекомендовать для применения в ходе гуманитарных кампаний.

La terapia breve es una forma específi ca de terapia llevada a cabo por profesionales que buscan utilizar sus habilidades y conocimientos para atender las quejas de los clientes en el marco de una sola sesión. La sesión tiene lugar dentro del contexto y entendimiento que la sesión en la que se participará será la única sesión que se tendrá. Dichos servicios de sesión única se encuentran en crecimiento en múltiples países con un nivel de renta elevado. En este documento se examina este tipo de terapia para su posible adaptación a las situaciones de emergencia aguda, en los países de bajos y medianos ingresos, donde la oferta de una única sesión puede ser la única opción. En este escrito se describe (a) la terapia breve de sesión única en su versión adaptada a las situaciones de emergencia recientes, (b) el modelo de sesión única en los países de un nivel de renta elevado, (c) su relación con los primeros auxilios psicológicos, (d) el desarrollo del modelo y su base informativa, así como (e) el modelo como una intervención y un servicio. Mientras que la terapia breve de una única sesión es prometedora para el trabajo en contextos humanitarios hay una necesidad de generar estudios controlados aleatorios en situaciones humanitarias antes que este tratamiento puede ser considerado como una practica humanitaria recomendada y comprobada a través de la evidencia de su uso.