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  • Correspondence
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A joint international collaboration to address the inevitable mental health crisis in Ukraine

Nature Medicine volume 28, pages 1103–1104 (2022)Cite this article

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To the Editor — On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marking a major escalation in hostilities. More than 4 million people have fled Ukraine into neighboring countries, causing Europe’s largest refugee crisis since the Second World War. The mental health problems and challenges among refugees and other populations affected by the war have received little attention, compared to political boycotts and economic sanctions. The rapid escalation of a mental health crisis warrants urgent attention.

It is inevitable that people living in conflict-affected areas will have short- and long-term mental health problems. Prior to fleeing their home countries, refugees usually experience various traumas, such as losing family and loved ones in conflict, fear of being killed in war and lack of basic necessities, all of which contribute to an increased vulnerability to mental health problems1. Certain risk factors, such as pre-existing psychiatric problems, may increase the risk of conflict-related mental health problems among vulnerable individuals2. During migration, ongoing danger to personal safety and uncertainty about the future can trigger mental health problems3. In addition to these short-term effects, long-term effects of conflict-associated migration may be due to the stress of acculturation, language and culture barriers, and social discrimination in the new country4.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Wei Bai, Hong Cai, Sha Sha.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration, and Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China

    Wei Bai, Hong Cai & Yu-Tao Xiang

  2. Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China

    Wei Bai, Hong Cai & Yu-Tao Xiang

  3. Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China

    Wei Bai, Hong Cai & Yu-Tao Xiang

  4. The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, and the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Sha Sha

  5. Department of Psychiatry, The Melbourne Clinic and St Vincent’s Hospital, University of Melbourne, Richmond, Victoria, Australia

    Chee H. Ng

  6. Pakistan Psychiatric Research Centre, Fontain House, Lahore, Pakistan

    Afzal Javed

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Jair Mari

  8. School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Zhaohui Su

  9. Graduate School of Medicine, International Center for Medical Research, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Naotaka Shinfuku

Authors
  1. Wei Bai
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  2. Hong Cai
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  3. Sha Sha
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  4. Chee H. Ng
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  5. Afzal Javed
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  6. Jair Mari
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  7. Zhaohui Su
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  8. Naotaka Shinfuku
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  9. Yu-Tao Xiang
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Contributions

W.B., H.C., S.S., C.H.N. and Y.-T.X. conceptualized this Correspondence and its format; W.B. and Y.-T.X. drafted the text; A.J., J.M., Z.S., N.S. and C.H.N. made critical revisions of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chee H. Ng or Yu-Tao Xiang.

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Competing interests

A.J. is President of the World Psychiatric Association. C.H.N. is President of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists. J.M. is Chair of the World Psychiatric Association - Urban Mental Health Section. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Bai, W., Cai, H., Sha, S. et al. A joint international collaboration to address the inevitable mental health crisis in Ukraine. Nat Med 28, 1103–1104 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01828-w

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