Can Asylum-Seekers with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Be Successfully Treated? A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are exceptionally high among asylum-seekers. Reportedly, stressors caused by the asylum procedure and psychological consequences of torture contribute to the maintenance of symptoms and interfere with treatment. In a pilot randomized controlled trial, the authors examined the efficacy of trauma-focused treatment in 32 asylum-seekers with PTSD resulting from state-sponsored violence and other traumatic events. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) was compared with treatment as usual (TAU), with a focus on stabilization and psychoactive medication.

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Bouncing back - trauma and the HPA-axis in healthy adults

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis is thought to underlie stress-related psychiatric disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some studies have reported HPA-axis dysregulation in trauma-exposed (TE) adults in the absence of psychiatric morbidity. In this dissertation we set out to unravel part of the mechanism that underlies the complex relations between trauma exposure, stress regulation, and psychopathology. Mentally healthy TE subjects were compared with non-trauma-exposed (NE) healthy controls.

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Bringing politics back in. The introduction of 'the performative power' of counterterrorism

While it is sensible that governments and academics endeavour to assess the effectiveness of counterterrorism policies, this article argues that it is almost impossible to measure arithmetically the outcome of counterterrorism efforts for a variety of reasons. However, this does not mean that the effect of governmental policy cannot and should not be assessed. This article argues that it is not necessarily the policy measures and their intended results as such, but much more the way in which they are presented and perceived, that determine the overall effect of the policy in question.

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Building social capital and improving mental health care to prevent suicide

This month’s issue of the IJE carries three articles, and accompanying commentaries, on the theme of suicide.

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Belastung durch traumatische Erfahrungen bei Soldaten in Kriseneinsätzen: Ergebnisse aus einer Pilotstudie = Traumatic stress in combat missions-outcome of a pilot study

Vorgestellt werden die Ergebnisse einer Pilotstudie zur traumatischen Belastung von Soldaten in Kriseneinsätzen. Eine Stichprobe von Soldaten wurde vor, während und nach dem Einsatz in einem Krisengebiet untersucht. Für die Erhebung wurden das Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), das Beck Depressionsinventar (BDI) und ein in usammenarbeit mit einsatzerfahrenen Soldaten ausgearbeiteter Fragebogen zur Erfassung der speziellen Belastung von Soldaten in Kriseneinsätzen eingesetzt.

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Beyond borders

As frontiers close and migration is increasingly criminalized, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement strives for a ‘response without distinction’ to legal status and relief along the perilous path

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Beyond the discourse of trauma: shifting the focus on Sudanese refugees

The refugee label acknowledges the plight of people marginalized, oppressed and pushed to the periphery of society. While having this status affords a number of rights from countries signatory to the 1951 UN convention, the concept of 'refugeehood' within resettlement contexts can become a master status that defines a person above and beyond any other form of identity. Drawing upon political theories of recognition, this dilemma is addressed by examining the powerful current Western discourses on trauma where refugees are often situated.

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Asylum seekers'perspectives on their mental health and views on health and social services: contributions for service provision using a mixed-methods approach

The literature tends to use ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’ interchangeably, creating uncertainty about the mental health of asylum seekers. However, asylum seekers occupy a unique position in British society which differentiates them from people with refugee status and which may have implications for their mental health. For example, ‘asylum seekers’ are supported and accommodated in dispersal areas under the National Asylum Support Service and they are not entitled to work.

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Auschwitz never again

Lecture by Hon. Louise Arbour, President & CEO, International Crisis Group to the Dutch Auschwitz Committee, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, 27 January 2010

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Barèmes et syndromes psychotraumatiques = Tables of disability and psycho-traumatic syndromes

Les barèmes d'invalidité existent depuis l'Antiquité, mais leurs applications aux séquelles de traumatismes psychiques ne datent véritablement que de la fin du xixe siècle, avec l'évolution des politiques sociales, l'industrialisation et les guerres européennes. La traduction en chiffres d'une souffrance psychique, si elle s'avère utile sur le plan administratif pour calculer les indemnisations, soulève des problèmes de cohérence clinique et de justice quand elle devient une contrainte rigide et sans nuances. La barèmisation s'applique en fait très mal aux psychotraumatismes.

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