Post-traumatic stress disorder and coping strategies in psychotraumatized refugees

Abstract

In extreme life events basic assumptions are frequently reassessed and changed. Therefore, trauma requires re-education. Effective coping strategies enable individual to tolerate, minimize, accept or ignore what one cannot manage and to moderate the consequences of stressful, traumatic events. The aim of this study was to evaluate coping strategies in refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder prior and after group cognitive-behavioural therapy. The sample included 70 refugees who experienced multiple stressors such as organized violence, ethnic conflicts, bombing, expelling from their homes and life in exile. Impact Event Scales-Revised, Ways of Coping-Revised, Scale of Cognitive Self-regulation and Scale of Coping Strategies were administered before and after six months of group cognitive-behavioural therapy. Post-traumatic stress disorder in refugees after therapy significantly decreased. Cognitive self-regulation was improved by moving locus of control from external to internal resources. Coping was qualitatively different, with a wider repertoire of adaptive strategies. Cognitive group work facilitates processes of grieving, working-through of traumatic material, increasing emotional awareness and developing creativity in coping. Our findings highlight the positive impact of cognitive-behavioural treatment on post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic adjustment.