There is an ongoing need for the development of culturally meaningful and appropriate mental health services for marginalised populations. Individuals with refugee backgrounds, many of whom have experienced vast exposure to highly traumatic events, constitute such a population. However, working this homogenous population presents mental health services with a unique set of challenges. It is to the development, delivery, and evaluation of mental health services for individuals with refugee backgrounds that the following commentary is relevant. Thus, the following essay will focus upon the experience of post-traumatic disorder (PTSD), while also highlighting similarities and differences between Western populations and individuals with refugee
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1). From this perspective, the disorder is presumed to manifest as an affliction of reactivity, rather than as an altered baseline state (Friedman, 2011). Thus, PTSD is one of the few psychiatric constructs to have an explicit causal mechanism outlined within its diagnostic criteria, that is: direct or indirect exposure to one or more real or threatened events that involve death, serious injury, or sexual violence, to oneself or to others, resulting in clinically significant distress or impairment for at least one month (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). According to Blanco (2011), the prevalence of traumatic exposure in Australia was 64.6% for men and 49.5% for women, where the experiences most likely to be associated with the development of PTSD were physical assault and sexual …show more content…
For this reason, the remaining 59.5 million individuals forcibly displaced worldwide, of which are undoubtedly similar to and different from their resettled counterparts, highlight the importance of providing systems of health care that can adapt to their unique, cultural experiences (UNHCR, 2014). In terms of assisting this homogenous population with recovery from PTSD symptomatology, cross-cultural similarities and differences must be accepted, appreciated, explored, and understood, to subsequently meet the standards necessary to provide effective mental health interventions. In light of the challenges associated with achieving cultural competency within mental health services for individuals with refugee backgrounds, the current essay highlights the importance of active collaboration to address these
1). From this perspective, the disorder is presumed to manifest as an affliction of reactivity, rather than as an altered baseline state (Friedman, 2011). Thus, PTSD is one of the few psychiatric constructs to have an explicit causal mechanism outlined within its diagnostic criteria, that is: direct or indirect exposure to one or more real or threatened events that involve death, serious injury, or sexual violence, to oneself or to others, resulting in clinically significant distress or impairment for at least one month (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). According to Blanco (2011), the prevalence of traumatic exposure in Australia was 64.6% for men and 49.5% for women, where the experiences most likely to be associated with the development of PTSD were physical assault and sexual …show more content…
For this reason, the remaining 59.5 million individuals forcibly displaced worldwide, of which are undoubtedly similar to and different from their resettled counterparts, highlight the importance of providing systems of health care that can adapt to their unique, cultural experiences (UNHCR, 2014). In terms of assisting this homogenous population with recovery from PTSD symptomatology, cross-cultural similarities and differences must be accepted, appreciated, explored, and understood, to subsequently meet the standards necessary to provide effective mental health interventions. In light of the challenges associated with achieving cultural competency within mental health services for individuals with refugee backgrounds, the current essay highlights the importance of active collaboration to address these