Child Soldiers - by Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge and Professor Daya Somasundaram (Published by Cambridge University Press)

Jayatunge, R.M., Somasunderam, D. (2014). Child soldiers. Essentials of Global Mental Health (Published by Cambridge University Press Section 4 (23).

The chapter "Child soldiers" was co-authored by Dr. Ruwan M. Jayatunge and Professor Daya Somasundaram and published by Cambridge University Press in 2014 as Chapter 23 of Essentials of Global Mental Health, edited by Samuel O. Okpaku.

The phenomenon of child soldiers can be found manifesting in situations of horizontal inequalities between groups with clearly defined cultural or ethnic identities. In war and violent conflict, children are traumatized by such common experiences as frequent shelling, bombing, helicopter strafing, round-ups, cordon-off and search operations, deaths, injury, destruction, mass arrests, detention, shootings, grenade explosions, and landmines. The impact of war on their growing minds and the resulting traumatization and brutalization are decisive in making them more likely to become child soldiers. Apart from death and injury, the recruitment of children becomes even more abhorrent when one sees the psychological consequences. Reintegration of the former child soldiers can be challenging. Some children have no families; either they have fled the country, or they have been killed in the war. Child soldiers often face psychological and social problems.

The authors examine the recruitment, traumatization, and reintegration of children involved in armed conflict from a global mental health perspective. The authors describe child recruitment as a form of abuse and note that it often happens in environments with significant inequalities between groups. They conclude that despite available rehabilitation processes, many former child soldiers still experience the negative impacts of war. The authors assert that effective reintegration and prevention depend on addressing the underlying socioeconomic and political factors contributing to recruitment. 

LINK ; https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/essentials-of-global-mental-health/child-soldiers/C868557CA43324AB571DDF9E3DD54F06

Handagama's "Take This Road"

Sri Lankan film director Asoka Handagama's "Take This Road"  is an artistic testimony of the prolonged armed conflict in Sri Lanka. The film portrays the destiny of three families from three different ethnic backgrounds affected by the war. Although the cultural roots are different, their suffering is universal. 

A Sinhala family goes to Jaffna via the newly opened A9 road to see the Northern Peninsula. The Sinhala family consists of a father, mother, daughter, and son. Their father is a psychological casualty of the 1996 Central Bank bombing that took place in 1996, in which nearly 90 civilians lost their lives. The father suffers from startling reactions, hypervigilance, and flashbacks. Sometimes he goes into pathological dissociation and disconnects from reality. 

The Muslim family is visiting the North after many years, and they intend to see the lost property. In 1990, they were forcibly expelled from the North along with their community by the LTTE, which was an act of ethnic cleansing. The family lost their livelihood, identity, and dignity. They came to Puttlam and lived there for many years as refugees. When they come to their village, the houses are in ruins and uninhabited. What they labored for a lifetime had gone. Vanished without a trace. 

The Tamil family, which lives in the North, underwent many hardships as a result of the armed conflict. The head of the family, a retired government servant, witnessed how his enriched Tamil culture turned into a totalitarian cyanide culture. One of his sons joined the LTTE and became obsessed with hate and retaliation. The family undergoes war trauma that is beyond the usual human experience. Ruined infrastructure, land mines, fear, and uncertainty become the critical components of their lives. They have a foreshortened future now. 

The war in Sri Lanka has traumatized the people and made communities dysfunctional. People became suspicious of each other and lived in fear, maintaining a deep conspiracy of silence. The war affected every layer of society and every ethnic group, mostly up to the individual level. Although the film recounts human trauma and social maladies, Take This Road gives a powerful message to the viewers. Despite the suspicion, ethnic rivalry, and deep-rooted hatred, people from different ethnic groups.

As Ashoka Handagama, I sought to explore the consequences of the three-decade-long armed conflict in Sri Lanka through my book, Shell Shock to Palali Syndrome. In reference to my book,  Professor Richard N. Lalonde from the Department of Psychology at York University, Canada states, " A key point in this book is the initial and long-standing denial of PTSD by Sri Lankan authorities, who often dismissed it as an 'American illness." The book highlights the painful process of overcoming this official reluctance to acknowledge combat-related trauma, which left countless victims untreated for years.  The work documents the vast number of psychological casualties—far beyond the combatants—that include civilians, child soldiers, and war widows. The book illustrates these different presentations with narrative case examples, making the abstract concept of PTSD more relatable. " 

While I have made efforts to raise awareness about the impact of war trauma and its repercussions, I believe that Handagama's contributions stand out as particularly distinctive and effective. His work offers compelling and unparalleled insights into the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, provoking deeper reflection on the subject.

Taking Things for Granted

We often take things for granted around us, including our material possessions, services, natural resources, our relationships, our loved ones, family, and friends; everything. We foster certain entitlement and demand things. We don't care or feel the importance of it until we lose it. Its human tendency that we frequently overlook the significance of the various elements that surround us, including our material belongings, essential services, natural resources, and the relationships we cherish with family and friends. It is often only in the face of loss that we come to recognize the true importance of these aspects of our lives, from the very air we breathe to the moments of tranquillity we experience. While we may be acutely aware of the monetary value assigned to our possessions, we often fail to grasp their deeper significance and the impact they have on our well-being. In other words, we know the price of everything, but we don't know its true value. I think Oscar Wilde clearly stated, 'What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. This lack of appreciation extends to our physical and mental health, which we may take for granted until it is compromised. Cultivating a sense of gratitude is a practice that deserves our daily attention, as it allows us to acknowledge and honour the richness of our experiences and the people who contribute to our lives. I think gratitude is a virtue that we should practice every day. By fostering this virtue, we can enhance our awareness of the world around us and develop a more profound appreciation for the blessings we often overlook.

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health ( Presentation )

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health ( Presentation )

By Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge, M.D. PhD 

LINK ;  https://odysee.com/@LearnHub:5/Application-of-Artificial-Intelligence--in-Mental-Health:d

Immanuel Kant on Mental Disorders

 

 

 Dr.  Ruwan M Jayatunge, M.D. PhD

Immanuel Kant's exploration of mental disorders is extensively articulated in his later work, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798). Unlike the predominant medical or biological perspectives of his era, Kant adopted a pragmatic approach, emphasizing the impact of mental illness on an individual's cognitive and moral agency rather than merely its physiological origins.

His philosophy underscores the importance of self-understanding and resilience in the face of psychological challenges. For Kant, a sound mind is characterized by the harmonious functioning of the three faculties—cognition, feeling, and desire—under the guidance of reason. Disruption in this balance, where one faculty becomes dysfunctional or unruly, is what he identifies as the root of mental illness.

Kant's perspective on mental illness is a philosophical rather than solely a medical issue, emphasizing the mind's failure to adhere to its own logical and judgmental norms. He offers profound insights into the essence of mental disorders, suggesting that individuals bear some responsibility for their mental well-being, even as he recognizes that certain conditions may be hereditary or beyond cure.

Kant identifies the "only universal characteristic of madness" as the substitution of shared, rational reasoning with an individual's private logic. He categorizes mental pathologies through a tripartite framework encompassing cognition, feeling, and desire, distinguishing between weaknesses (deficiencies) and illnesses (active derangements). In his view, the philosopher, as an expert in reason, is best equipped to assess the nature of madness, which he sees fundamentally as a breakdown of rational thought.

Kant’s theory of mental disorder is a sophisticated philosophical framework defining mental illness as a breakdown of the conditions for objective experience (Frierson, 2009).  Kant argued that mental disorder is the transition from "common sense"   to a "private sense." For Kant, "common sense"   is a normative tool for testing the truth of our perceptions and judgments against the world. Kant defined a healthy mind not by the absence of biological disease, but by its normative functioning—specifically, its ability to align with the universal rules of logic and a shared social reality.

Kant explicitly stated that madness can be hereditary, referring to "germs of madness" that develop alongside physical reproduction. He believed certain physical states, such as issues with the digestive system or a naturally "melancholy" temperament, could make an individual susceptible to mental derangement. Kant argued that nature might provide the "predisposition" for illness, social life, and personal habits, which often act as the catalysts. He stated that societal pressure could break the natural balance of the mind’s faculties. Kant emphasized that even a sound intellect can fall into illness because human reason is fragile and depends on constant social communication to remain healthy.

Kant indicated a profound connection between mental illness and the historical evolution of society (Falcato, 2025). This indicates that Immanuel Kant did not view mental illness merely as a biological malfunction. Kant's assertion that humans possess an inherent inclination toward social interaction, or sociability, alongside a simultaneous tendency to seek isolation and act in self-interest, creates a psychological conflict.

As society progresses, it generates artificial needs that can lead to mental strain. Kant discussed issues such as hypochondria and mood disorders, arguing that culture plays a role in shaping and moralizing human behaviour. He suggested that human nature inherently resists societal constraints, which in turn exerts pressure on the mind. Kant posited that as society progresses towards greater civilization and intelligence, individuals become more susceptible to mental anxieties, a condition he referred to as hypochondria, as well as various cognitive disorders.

Van den Berg (2025) highlights that Kant's theory of mechanical explanation remains relevant and aligns with contemporary mechanistic paradigms.  It provides a robust philosophical framework for the current biological turn in psychiatry and neuroscience. Kant strongly believed that the mind must be studied through its physical manifestation. Mental health professionals today assert that mental disorders stem from dysfunctions within brain circuits. This is a direct application of the Kantian mechanical explanation.

Kant rejected the binary choice of viewing madness as either purely a spiritual/moral failing or purely a biological disease (Polianskii, 2023). However, Kant insisted that the symptom itself is a disorder of judgment and reason. Kant adopted a moderate stance: Madness is a medical problem in its origin (requiring a physician for the body), but it is a philosophical problem in its manifestation (requiring a rational approach for the mind).

Kant’s "tripartite psychology" identifies specific failures of the mind that mirror modern psychotic symptoms. For Kant, a healthy mind is one that successfully synthesizes sensory data into a coherent experience of reality (Annett, 2023). Therefore, "mental dysfunction" is not just behaving oddly, but a structural failure of cognition—the mind's inability to perform the necessary "synthesis" to construct a stable, shared reality. Kant argued that true mental illness (dysfunction) occurs when the mind steps outside the "bounds of sense"—producing thoughts that have no possible connection to objective experience.

Kant’s classification of mental illness extends beyond individual health into the realms of public order and legal accountability (Ferrara, 2022). Kant used mental illness to define the boundaries of legal agency. A person suffering from a "malady of the head" is classified as "incapable”, meaning they lose the legal standing to represent themselves in court or enter into contracts. Kant argued that because a mentally ill person is governed by a "private sense" rather than universal reason, their actions are not "free" in the moral sense. He emphasized that they cannot be punished for crimes in the same way as a rational citizen, as they lack the capacity to recognize the law they have broken.

Kant's work from 1798 serves as a pivotal link between the traditional, often supernatural interpretations of mental illness and the emerging framework of modern medical psychiatry. Kant should be seen as a forerunner of the trends in modern psychiatry (Tényi, 2019).  Kant was truly a visionary for his era. During his lifetime, mental illness was frequently seen as a result of demonic possession or a moral shortcoming. In such a rudimentary understanding of mental health, Kant's progressive views on the subject were remarkably advanced, reflecting a deeper insight into the complexities of the human mind.

  

References

Annett, N. (2023). The concept of mental dysfunction: A Kantian critique [Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia]. UEA Digital Repository. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/95747/1/Final%20copy%20-%202023AnnettNBPhD.pdf

Falcato, A. (2025). Kant’s early diagnosis: The maladies of the head as a cultural phenomenon. Philosophy Today, 69(1), 131–147. doi.org.

Ferrara, I. (2022). The political dimension of pathology: Kantian mental illnesses between fragility, freedom, and imputation. Estudos Kantianos, 10(1), 119–138. doi.org.

Frierson, P. (2009). Kant on mental disorder: Part 1. An overview. History of Psychiatry, 20(3), 267–289. doi.org.

Polianskii, D. V. (2023). Kant's concept of madness, psychiatry and anti-psychiatry. SHS Web of Conferences, 161, 07007. doi.org.

Tényi T. (2019).  [Immanuel Kant's concept of mental disorders]. Psychiatr Hung. 2019;34(3):325-326. Hungarian. PMID: 31570664.

Van den Berg, H. (2025). Kant’s essentialism and mechanism and their relevance for present-day philosophy of psychiatry. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 15(1), Article 7. doi.org.