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Digital mental health interventions for children and adolescents in war and conflict zones

Nature Health (2026)Cite this article

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Young, displaced people face an increased risk of mental health problems but limited access to in-person treatment; digital interventions may help to fill this gap.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    John R. Weisz & Joshua S. Steinberg

  2. International Rescue Committee, New York, NY, USA

    Jeannie Annan

  3. Youth Resilience Research Unit, Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Dennis Ougrin

  4. Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK

    Dennis Ougrin

Authors
  1. John R. Weisz
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  2. Joshua S. Steinberg
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  3. Jeannie Annan
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  4. Dennis Ougrin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John R. Weisz.

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Competing interests

During the preparation of this paper, J. R. W. received research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH124965; P50 MH129699), the Institute of Education Sciences (R305A140253-17), the Manton Foundation and the William F. Milton Fund; consulting fees from Instituto Ilumine; and royalties from The Guilford Press and Practicewise. J. S. S. received research funding from the National Science Foundation (Graduate Research Fellowship), the Harvard University Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship and the William F. Milton Fund; and consulting fees from Instituto Ilumine. D. O. received research funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR 155974), Medical Research Council (MR/W002493/1) and Barts Charity. J. A. reports no competing interests. The authors do not believe that any financial or non-financial interests listed above could reasonably undermine the objectivity or integrity of this publication but have disclosed them to ensure transparency.

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Weisz, J.R., Steinberg, J.S., Annan, J. et al. Digital mental health interventions for children and adolescents in war and conflict zones. Nat. Health (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44360-025-00008-7

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