This study identifies two main narratives and subject positions adopted by refugee participants from the former Yugoslavia: 'the past is past' and 'the past is our strength.' It analyses the complexity implicit in these two narratives about the past. Although these narratives at first appear contradictory, the participants' stories illustrate the ways in which they co-operate for the development of mental health in refugees. The ongoing dialogue between the two narratives allows for the participants' endorsement of subject positions that refer to both individual and collective identities.

Background: There is growing evidence of the impact of post-migration factors on the mental health of refugees. To date, few UK studies have been conducted. Aims: The study investigated the relationship between trauma, post-migration problems, social support and the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers. Methods: Refugees and asylum seekers (n = 47) were recruited mainly from clinical settings. Self-report measures of post-migration problems, mental health problems and social support were completed in an interview.

We examined posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptom trajectories during ongoing exposure to political violence, seeking to identify psychologically resilient individuals and the factors that predict resilience. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a random sample of 1196 Palestinian adult residents of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem across three occasions, six months apart (September 2007-November 2008). Latent growth mixture modeling identified PTSD, and depression symptom trajectories.

For almost 45 years, the experience of Jewish children who were hidden during World War II was considered to be of little importance, particularly with respect to what had taken place in the concentration camps. Their very history was ignored in the many accounts of the Holocaust. It was only at the end of the 1980s that their experience began to be thought of as potentially traumatic.