Trauma and perceived social rejection among Yazidi women and girls who survived enslavement and genocide

 

Background: In August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a terrorist organization, attacked the Yazidi’s ancestral homeland in northwestern Iraq. Among other atrocities, they abducted thousands of women and girls and traded many of them into sexual slavery. The aim of this study is to determine the mental health of women and girl survivors of these events in relation to enslavement and experiences with genocide-related events, as well as perceived social rejection in their community.

 

Read more

‘This is not paranoia, this is real life’ : psychosocial interventions for refugee victims of torture in Athens

The need for culturally relevant treatment interventions for refugees focusing on post-migration factors is clearly of no small concern. To (i) explore culturally informed perspectives on trauma from an individual, qualitative perspective and (ii) track the trajectory of post-traumatic responses in relation to processes of social integration, we present the results of 12 months of research among asylum seekers and refugees in an NGO-run centre for victims of torture in Athens, Greece.

Read more

Mental health capacity building in refugee primary health care settings in Sub-Saharan Africa : impact, challenges and gaps

Background. In 2015, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees started a process of mental health capacity building in refugee primary health care settings in seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, ultimately aiming to decrease the treatment gap of mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) conditions in these operations.

Read more

The neural dynamics of deficient memory control in heavily traumatized refugees

Victims of war, torture and natural catastrophes are prone to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These individuals experience the recurrent, involuntary intrusion of traumatic memories. What neurocognitive mechanisms are driving this memory disorder?

Read more

Primary care of refugees and migrants : Lesson learnt from the EUR-HUMAN project = Menekültek, migránsok az alapellátásban : Mit tanulhattunk az EUR-HUMAN projekt eredményeiből?

In 2015, local wars, starvation and misery in some Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries forced millions of people to leave their homelands. Many of these people migrated toward Europe, reaching Hungary as well. The refugee crisis created significant challenges for all national healthcare systems across Europe.

Read more

Developing a culturally sensitive mental health intervention for asylum seekers in the Netherlands : a pilot study

Introduction: This pilot study investigated asylum seekers’ needs and expectations in the mental health field to develop a culturally sensitive psychosocial intervention.

 

Method: Participants were residents of a certain asylum-seekers centre in the Netherlands, with most of them from the Middle East crisis. Needs and expectations were identified using therapy expectations questionnaire (11 participants) and two focus groups (17 participants).

 

Read more

Children ‘disappeared’ at the United States/Mexico border : a symptom with consequences for the United States

‘Disappearing’ people as an act of torture has an ordinary language meaning, such that the United Nations could describe it and various torture treatment centres that address it as torture. The present United States policy of separating families into different prisons at its border with Mexico results in many such disappearances, and therefore is torture of both children and the families they are separated from. This article follows the United Nations description.

Read more

Toward Cultural Assessment of Grief and Grief-Related Psychopathology

Ways of dealing with bereavement and grief are influenced by the norms of one’s cultural identity. Cultural assessment of bereavement and grief is therefore needed for a comprehensive evaluation of grief-related psychopathology and for negotiating appropriate treatment. Cultural aspects of bereavement and grief include cultural traditions related to death, bereavement, and mourning as well as help seeking and coping.

Read more

Internet-based behavioural activation with lay counsellor support versus online minimal psychoeducation without support for treatment of depression : a randomised controlled trial in Indonesia

Summary

 

Background

Depression is one of the leading contributors to the global burden of disease. However, treatment availability is often very poor in low-income and middle-income countries. In a randomised clinical trial, we investigated the efficacy of internet-based behavioural activation with lay counsellor support compared with online minimal psychoeducation without support for depression in Indonesia (a middle-income country).

 

Methods

Read more

Care for refugees

 

For many years we have been meeting and working with asylum seekers and refugees offering our service as clinical psychologists. It often happens that we suggest breathing and relaxation exercises during a counselling session and that people are interested in hearing more about them.

Read more

Pages