Broken Spirits: The Treatment of Traumatized Asylum Seekers, Refugees and War and Torture Victims

The last two decades of the 20th century have witnessed over thirty-five civil wars and an even larger number of lower intensity conflicts worldwide. Widespread brutalization and ethnic cleansing, often resulting in large movements of population, characterize many of the conflicts. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that there are currently 50 million people who are victims of forced displacement, 40- 80 % of whom will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The mental health problems among asylum seekers and refugees are becoming a public issue, but the awareness of societies and mental health professionals considering this problem is relatively low. Although advances have been made in the provision of innovative mental health services for asylum seekers and refuges with PTSD, they are not systemized, and not widely known to professionals in the field. A publication offering practical guidelines for the treatment of torture victims and political refugees does not exist.Broken Spiritsbrings together the works of the most respected mental health professionals--from the U.S. and abroad--and make available the most current knowledge on complex PTSD, forced migration and cultural sensitivity in diagnosis and treatment.