Drawings from Syria\u27s Lost Generation: Psychological Impacts of the Refugee Crisis

Since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, more than 11 million people have been forcibly displaced and exposed to violence. Even if the civil war were to end tomorrow, the refugee crisis will be expected to last for decades more. With nearly half of the refugees being children, the impact of the loss of health, education, social networks, and home environments on children have resulted in what is being called Syria‟s lost generation. A potential solution in mitigating these psychological impacts is the reintegration from refugee camps into non-camp host communities or the resettlement into other countries. Through the psychological analysis of children‟s drawings, this research project hopes to study the mitigating impact of reintegration on the likelihood of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder on Syrian refugee children