The conference highlighted the profound and lasting psychological impacts of conflict on children and youth, emphasising the urgent need to address these issues within policy frameworks. Participants noted that while the physical consequences of conflict are often immediately visible, the psychological scars are longer-lasting and impactful, influencing both individual development and broader societal stability.
A key focus was on the role of adverse childhood experiences, which can include exposure to violence, loss of family members, displacement, and other forms of traumatic exposure. These experiences can significantly alter a young person’s development, affecting their emotional regulation, cognitive function, and social interactions. The long-term consequences of unaddressed trauma include an increased risk of mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression, as well as a higher likelihood of involvement in future cycles of violence.
However, there is a need to move beyond clinical conceptualisations of trauma focused on the individual, to consider the role of collective trauma and narratives. For example, research from the XCEPT programme had shown how stories of violence committed during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon in the 1980s motivated young men in the next generation to join Islamist groups to fight in Syria during the uprising. Stories passed down between generations contributed to feelings of shame, anger, and desire for revenge. There is a need to understand the ways in which collective aspects of trauma intersect with personal trauma to shape behaviour and attitudes.
Neuroscientific research has the potential to elucidate processes that link social and material conditions to individual psychology and decision-making. For example, neuroscientific research carried out by a member of the XCEPT team demonstrated how feelings of social exclusion could create conditions in which individuals were more likely to become ‘devoted actors’, whose extreme commitment to ‘sacred values’ was hard to counter through traditional counter-extremism approaches. Better integrating neuroscientific research into policy should be a priority.
Finally, the psychological impact on those working with conflict-affected children and youth was also highlighted. Good support and supervision, with attention to the mental health and wellbeing of those implementing programmes, is required to ensure that frontline staff can maintain the compassionate and common-sense approach that is required when working with young people exposed to conflict.