Wrestling with the Ghosts from the Past in Exile: Assessing Trauma in Asylum Seekers

Abstract

Boris Drozdek and John P. Wilson present an overview of the subtle and complex issues of assessing psychological trauma in asylum seekers. Case histories are presented to illustrate the critical issues that face mental health professionals who are trying to holistically understand the clients for whom they have responsibility. The authors begin by noting that trauma does not occur in a vacuum and neither does the assessment process. Trauma victims in general and asylum seekers in particular, have endured and survived a broad range of traumatic stressors such as war, dislocation, torture, detention, rapes, interrogations, political persecution, etc. The professional conducting the psychological assessment must become familiar with their nature and impact within the phenomenological perspective of the asylum seeker. The authors note that an asylum seeker suffers from a large change in lifestyle and communication barriers; they also emphasize the importance that these individuals must feel safe and secure in the context of trauma assessment and treatment. These considerations give rise to the need for understanding explanatory models and cultural relativity. Following a discussion of cultural relativity, the authors raise the question of how to check the accuracy of the trauma history. A set of guidelines is presented with a recognition that the trauma story unfolds over time and the assessor rarely obtains a complete and full reporting of the traumatic experience, precisely because the event overwhelmed the normal coping resource of the person and requires sufficient time and assistance to process and integrate the extraordinary experiences into the self and personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)