Mind Field Blog

Fat snowflakes floating lazily down outside misted windows, Dad throwing another log on the fire, smells of cinnamon and gingerbread floating thickly out of the kitchen while children scramble for another present under the tree, and laughter, glasses clinking as another round of charades is about to begin. Or not. Or you’re lying on the […]

On World Humanitarian Day 2018, the Overseas Development Institute held an event called Breaking the Silence: Promoting action on aid worker mental health. Two key areas were highlighted as particularly problematic for aid worker well-being; trauma, due to the environments and events they are exposed to, and; stress or burnout, arising from the particular cultures […]

My father was a war correspondent (killed in El Salvador in 1989). He used to call me from the American Colony Hotel bar in Jerusalem and I could hear the voices and laughter, the heavy clink of ice in glasses, and almost feel the heat sweeping in from the pool area, sense the relief in […]

My aunt often tells us: “yo no estoy loca!” This translates into “I am not mad/crazy”, which is her response when we suggest she should seek professional help to deal with her chronic anxiety. Salvador Dali used to say the same thing and although we may be tempted to question the validity of that statement, […]

I recently wrapped up a project that I’ve been consulting on for over two years – a project working with Syrians displaced from their homes, their lives, their families, their futures. I know I’m not alone in working on a project like this where you spend time getting to know people, working with them, eating […]

The short answer: if you have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, let alone a catalogue of traumatic events, then to some extent – yes. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a huge collection of symptoms that might manifest as a syndrome, but very many of us are on the spectrum, if only to a small degree. […]

The suicide of someone who appears to have everything the rest of us dream of is always particularly unsettling. There is a persistent fantasy in most of us that if we were impossibly rich and successful, beautiful and vibrant then we would, of course, be blissfully happy. The fact that this is not true is […]