ARQ Centrum’45 (en)

Background: Questionnaires are widely used to assess the mental health status of refugees, whereas their construct validity largely remains unexplored.

Objective: This study examined the construct validity of two widely-used instruments for the assessment of PTSD symptoms (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [HTQ]; 16 items) and symptoms of anxiety and depression (Hopkins Symptom Check list-25 [HSCL-25]; 25 items) among Dutch and refugee patients with different linguistic backgrounds.

Background: Bereaved individuals who have lost a loved one under traumatic circumstances can develop symptoms of Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder (PCBD) and/or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This is particularly common in refugees, as they frequently have been confronted with multiple traumatic losses. For patients with severe PTSD and traumatic grief a treatment programme was developed, embedding individual traumatic grief focused therapy in a group-based multidisciplinary day patient treatment programme.

Werken met getraumatiseerde asielzoekers betekent vaak een confrontatie met wanhoop. Dit kan voor behandelaren dilemma’s opleveren, vooral wanneer die wanhoop sterker samenhangt met daily stressors dan met trauma gerelateerde pathologie. Deze bijdrage schetst hoe demoralisatie bij deze patiënten en hun hulpverleners kan ontstaan en hoe toepassing van empowerment meer grip geeft op de door machteloosheid opgeroepen dilemma’s in de behandeling.

Although the literature on positive adjustment following traumatic events is growing, only a few studies have examined this phenomenon in young refugees. Using the social-ecological framework, the aim of this study was to identify factors and processes that according to young refugees promote their resilience. A total of 16 treatment-seeking refugees aged 13-21years, living in the Netherlands, were interviewed.

Objective

It is unclear how many first responders experience barriers to care and stigma regarding mental health care, and how this influences their help-seeking. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on barriers to care and mental health stigma in first responders and their empirical relationship with psychosocial and psychiatric variables.

Methods

Many adolescent refugees and asylum seekers have experienced traumatic events. They often suffer from intrusions of these events, and report avoidance behaviors, sleeping problems and hyperarousal. On top of that, they are dealing with many daily stressors caused by their new and marginal social position in the Netherlands. How do these adolescents keep up in the Dutch society?

What you need to know

• When confronted with the death of a loved one, most people experience transient rather than persistent distress, and do not develop a mental health condition.

• Bereavement, specifically the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one is associated with an elevated risk for multiple psychiatric disorders.

• Consider prolonged grief disorder (PGD) in people with ongoing separation distress beyond the first six to 12 months of bereavement.

Narrative exposure therapy (NET) is a recently developed, short-term treatment for patients with a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of multiple trauma. NET can be applied very successfully in patients with complex trauma complaints (Jongedijk, 2014, Schauer, Neuner, & Elbert, 2011). An important feature of NET is that trauma processing is never an isolated event but is always...