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JOOP DE JONG, ed. Trauma War and Violence: Public Mental Health in Socio-Cultural Context. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2002, 454 pages. $75.00
INTRODUCTION
This wonderful book is a valuable contribution to the scant literature on organizing effective public mental health programs for traumatized refugee or war-torn populations. Since I first read and reviewed the book a year ago, I have referred to it often, and especially recommended the first chapter by Dr. de Jong to colleagues. In our current planning for the delivery of mental health resources to the Iraqi people, it is an especially invaluable and unique resource.
Dr. Joop de Jong is the Director of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization, and one of a handful of internationally recognized experts in the convergence of mental health and public health. Every time I see him (usually at the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies), he is about to go to Eritrea, Cambodia, or another abandoned corner of the world.
Dr. de Joop writes in the preface: "This book focuses specifically on the public health aspects of complex humanitarian and political emergencies. These emergencies combine several features: they violate human rights; involve the use of both state and non-state terror; they often occur within a country rather than across state boundaries; they include expressions of political, economic, and socio-cultural divisions; they promote competition for power and resources and result in predatory social formations; they affect large, displaced and mostly poor populations; and they often are protracted in duration and accompanied by cycles of violence."
The book combines mental health and public health principles with expertise in the practical details of trying to work in chaotic, political, and often media-saturated environments. Dr. de Jong opens the book with a long chapter on public mental health, emphasizing culturally appropriate models. Especially valuable is the section on the objectives and...