Refugee Mental Health: Trauma and Resilience

Dr. Laurence Kirmayer was interviewed by Dr. Sofie Bäärnhielm, Director, Transkulturellt Centrum, Stockholms läns landsting, Stockholm February 2012.

Background Reading:

Adeponle, A. B., Thombs, B. D., Groleau, D., Jarvis, E., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2012). Using the cultural formulation to resolve uncertainty in diagnoses of psychosis among ethnoculturally diverse patients. Psychiatric Services, 63(2), 147-153. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201100280

Afana, A.-H., Pedersen, D., Rønsbo, H., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2010). “Endurance is to be shown at the first blow”: Social representations and reactions to traumatic experiences in the Gaza strip. Traumatology, 16(4), 73-84.

Beiser, M. (2009). Resettling refugees and safeguarding their mental health: lessons learned from the Canadian Refugee Resettlement Project. Transcultural Psychiatry, 46(4), 539-583. doi: 46/4/539 [pii] 10.1177/1363461509351373

Cleveland, J., Rousseau, C., & Guzder, J. (2013). Cultural consultation for refugees. In L. J. Kirmayer, J. Guzder & C. Rousseau (Eds.), Cultural Consultation: Encountering the Other in Mental Health Care (pp. 245-269). New York: Springer.

Kidron, C. A. (2012). Alterity and the particular limits of universalism: Comparing Jewish-Israeli and Canadian-Cambodian genocide legacies. Current Anthropology, 53(6), 723-754.

Kinzie, D. (2007). PTSD among traumatized refugees. In L. J. Kirmayer, R. Lemelson & M. Barad (Eds.), Understanding Trauma: Biological, Psychological and Cultural Perspectives (pp. 194-206). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kirmayer, L. J. (1996). Landscapes of memory: Trauma, narrative and dissociation. In P. Antze & M. Lambek (Eds.), Tense Past: Cultural Essays on Memory and Trauma (pp. 173-198). London: Routledge.

Kirmayer, L. J. (1996). Confusion of the senses: Implications of ethnocultural variations in somatoform and dissociative disorders for PTSD. In A. J. Marsella, M. J. Friedman, E. T. Gerrity & R. M. Scurfield (Eds.), Ethnocultural Aspects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders: Issues, Research and Clinical Applications (pp. 131-164). Washington: American Psychological Association.

Kirmayer, L. J. (2001). Failures of imagination: The refugee’s narrative in psychiatry. Anthropology & Medicine, 10(2), 167-185.

Kirmayer, L. J. (2002). The refugee’s predicament. L’Évolution Psychiatrique, 67, 724-742.

Kirmayer, L. J., Guzder, J., & Rousseau, C. (Eds.). (2013). Cultural Consultation: Encountering the Other in Mental Health Care. New York: Springer.

Kirmayer, L. J., Kienzler, H., Afana, A. H., & Pedersen, D. (2010). Trauma and disasters in social and cultural context. In D. Bhugra & C. Morgan (Eds.), Principles of Social Psychiatry (2 ed., pp. 155-177). New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Kirmayer, L. J., Lemelson, R., & Barad, M. (Eds.). (2007). Understanding trauma: Integrating biological, clinical, and cultural perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kirmayer, L., Narasiah, L., Muñoz, M., Rashid, M., Ryder, A., Guzder, J., . . . Rousseau, C. (2011). Common mental health problems in immigrants and refugees: General approach to the patient in primary care. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 183(12), E959-967. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.090292

Kirmayer, L. J., Rousseau, C., & Crepeau, F. (2004). Research ethics and the plight of refugees in detention. Monash Bioethics Review, 23(4), 85-92.

Kirmayer, L. J., Rousseau, C., & Measham, T. (2010). Sociocultural considerations. In D. Benedek & G. H. Wynn (Eds.), Clinical Manual for the Management of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Washington: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.

Lemelson, R., Kirmayer, L., & Barad, M. (2007). Trauma in context: Integrating cultural, clinical and biological perspectives. . In L. Kirmayer, R. Lemelson & M. Barad (Eds.), Understanding trauma, Integrating biological, clinical, and cultural perspectives (pp. 451-474). New York: Cambridge University Press.

McFarlane, C. A., & Kaplan, I. (2012). Evidence-based psychological interventions for adult survivors of torture and trauma: A 30-year review. Transcultural Psychiatry, 49(3-4), 539-567. doi: 10.1177/1363461512447608

Quirk, G. J., Milad, M. R., Santini, E., & Lebrón, K. (2007). Learning not to fear: A neural systems approach. In L. J. Kirmayer, R. Lemelson & M. Barad (Eds.), Understanding Trauma: Integrating Biological, Clinical, and Cultural Perspectives (pp. 60-77). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Rousseau, C., & Measham, T. (2007). Posttraumatic suffering as a source of transformation: A clinical perspective. In L. J. Kirmayer, R. Lemelson & M. Barad (Eds.), Understanding Trauma: Biological, Psychological and Cultural Perspectives (pp. 275-294). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Silove, D. (2007). Adaptation, ecosocial safety signals, and the trajectory of PTSD. In L. J. Kirmayer, R. Lemelson & M. Barad (Eds.), Understanding Trauma: Biological, Psychological and Cultural Perspectives (pp. 242-258). New York: Cambridge University Press.