Title
Neighbourhoods as Thorny Matters: A Qualitative Analysis of How Local Conditions Shape Mental Health and Everyday Life in Palestine
Abstract
Neighbourhoods are often treated as key determinants of mental health, yet they are ‘thorny matters’: dynamic, contradictory spaces where safety and exclusion coexist. This research centres the lived experiences of people with severe mental illness in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territory to examine how neighbourhood conditions are negotiated in practice. While existing literature links socioeconomic deprivation, inequality, and weak social cohesion to poor mental health, less attention has been paid to how structural and interpersonal violence, alongside perceptions of safety, shape inclusion and exclusion. Findings show that participants experienced neighbourhoods as spaces of both continuity and disruption. To manage stigma and maintain safety, many adopted hyper-local lives, relying on immediate kinship networks. These networks could be protective, offering familiarity and shielding, but were equally fragile: gossip, mistrust, and reputational concerns often undermined support. Safety was further destabilised by the broader political context. Israeli military incursions, arrests, and ongoing violence were repeatedly identified as triggers of distress and as forces that constrained mobility and social engagement. Despite these constraints, neighbourhoods also held potential for inclusion. When mental illness was understood and acknowledged, participants reported greater empathy, acceptance, and practical support. These findings highlight neighbourhoods as contested social ecologies, where violence, care, stigma, and belonging intersect, and where mental health is shaped through the ongoing negotiation of these ‘thorny’ conditions.
Biography
Hanna Kienzler is Professor of Global Health in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and Co-Director of the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London. She investigates how systemic violence, ethnic conflict, and complex emergencies intersect with health and mental health outcomes in the occupied Palestinian territory, Kosovo, and, among refugees, in the UK. She conducts research on the mental health impacts of war and trauma on survivors; on what it means for persons with severe mental illness to live and participate in their respective communities; and on humanitarian and mental health interventions in fragile states. She is also co-founder of the Refugee Mental Health & Place network.
Zoom details:
https://zoom.us/j/93711378882?pwd=ONUDhocbW7ucS5dRak0RGdZBC27ynz.1
Meeting ID: 937 1137 8882
Passcode: 845614
Posted on 05/05/2026
