Childrens mental health and civil society in the Gaza strip.

The Gaza Strip, with a population of 1.7 million, over half of whom are under 18 years old, has existed in a state of ongoing conflict and containment for years, most notably since its closure in 2007. There is much concern for the mental health of the vast young generation who have little memory of other circumstances of existence, and even less exposure to the outside world. Their society forms the site of direct conflict and social destruction pertaining to untreated stress among the adults. However, leaving the social realm for the institutional for mental health treatment carries strong taboo, especially for adults. Civil society expert organisations offering a range of mental health work primarily pertaining to childrens social development can bypass some of this taboo and can also intervene at their schools and in their families, and may be most strategically located as social rather than institutional actors. Empowering the youth and seeking to strengthen Gazan society through them and for them causes some friction with the local government. However, despite the cultural and political challenges of mental health treatment for children within the Gaza Strip, the wider fact remains that however treated and psychosocially rehabilitated, society is predictably the site of renewed trauma in the short term and foreseeable future, enmeshing the mental health of its future generation inseparably with the international politics it inhabits.