Center For Victims Of Torture Research Articles

Parental Posttraumatic Stress and School Performance in Refugee Children.

Refugee children in the Nordic countries have been reported to perform poorly in school and carry a high burden of familial posttraumatic stress. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal and paternal posttraumatic stress on the school performance of refugee children. We used national register data on school grades at age 15-16 along with demographic and migration indicators during 2011-2017 in a population of 18,831 children in refugee families in Stockholm County, Sweden. Parental posttraumatic stress was identified in regional data from three levels of care, including a tertiary treatment center for victims of torture and war. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were fitted to analyze (a) mean grade point averages as Z scores and (b) eligibility for upper secondary school. In fully adjusted models, children exposed to paternal posttraumatic stress had a lower mean grade point average, SD = -0.14, 95% CI [-0.22, -0.07], and higher odds of not being eligible for upper secondary education, OR = 1.37, 95% CI [1.14, 1.65]. Maternal posttraumatic stress had a similar crude effect on school performance, SD = -0.15, 95% CI [-0.22, -0.07], OR = 1.25, 95% CI [1.00, 1.55], which was attenuated after adjusting for single-parent households and the use of child psychiatric services. The effects were similar for boys and girls as well as for different levels of care. Parental posttraumatic stress had a small negative effect on school performance in refugee children, adding to the intergenerational consequences of psychological trauma.

Group physiotherapy with survivors of torture in urban and camp settings in Jordan and Kenya

Introduction: In this paper we report provisional field results on the impact of CVT’s (the Center for Victims of Torture) interdisciplinary group treatment on physiotherapy indicators in refugees living in urban and camp settings in Kenya and Jordan. The physiotherapy component of this model includes pain neuroscience education, sleep hygiene, posture and body mechanics instruction and healing of pain and trauma from a biopsychosocial perspective, in a program of ten weekly sessions. This program is supported by a clinical assessment that records a broad set of indicators of participant experience and functioning. In addition, some survivors report having pelvic floor dysfunction and data will be offered about a subset of survivors looking at prevalence of these issues.
 Methods: Survivors are identified through referral systems, community education and sensitization campaigns, contacts and trainings with other NGOs and health care providers. Prospective survivors are screened into CVT services or referred to other agencies that can better meet their needs. CVT focuses its services on refugees with physical and emotional difficulties that may be effectively treated through its interdisciplinary treatment model and who have survived torture or related human rights violations. Following an informed consent process, survivors participate in a comprehensive individual assessment and then progress to the 10-week program. Wherever possible, follow-up assessments are conducted 2 weeks after the sessions end, and at 3, and 9 months following completion of the 10-week long intervention.
 Results: On average, participants who completed 3-month follow-up assessments showed statistically and clinically significant improvements on physiotherapy indicators.
 Discussion: Provisional results are encouraging and suggest that the model is adaptable to the needs of different populations and settings. As nearly all participants receive both counseling and physiotherapy, it is difficult to know which benefits can be attributed to physiotherapy alone.

Advocacy, Strategy and Tactics Used to Confront Corporate Power: The Nestlé Boycott and International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

Douglas A. Johnson began his career as a human rights activist while earning his undergraduate degree in philosophy (1975) at Macalester College in the United States. He lived at Gandhi's ashram in India to study nonviolent organizing (1969 to 1970). He served as the director of the Third World Institute in Minneapolis, MN, USA (1973-1979), which functioned as the international social justice program of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Johnson's work included creating and running a political collective; leading development study tours into villages in Guatemala and Honduras; and investigating how transnational companies (e.g., Nestlé) were penetrating the developing world. He was the co-founder of the Infant Formula Action Coalition (INFACT), elected national chairperson (1977-1985), and appointed as Executive Director (1978-1984). His role included representing INFACT before national and international organizations, the human milk substitute industry, the US Congress and Executive Branch, and the press. He initiated and coordinated the first international grass-roots consumer boycott (against Nestlé) in ten nations. He was also a co-founder of the International Nestlé Boycott Committee and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). He earned a Master's in Public and Private Management at Yale University (1988). Then he became the first Executive Director of the Center for Victims of Torture, in Minneapolis (1988-2012), the first treatment center for torture victims in the US. Since 2013, he has been teaching human rights theory and practice, and sharing lessons he has learned, as a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University (US). (This interview was conducted via Zoom and transcribed verbatim. It has been edited for ease of readability. DJ refers to Doug Johnson and LD refers to Laura Duckett.).

Psychological capital and life satisfaction of refugees in Canada: Evidence from a community-based educational support program.

Drawing on a 2-year community-based participatory research project, and grounded in the theories of positive psychology, this article examines the effects of targeted educational support on refugee participants' psychological capital (PsyCap)-hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism-as well as life satisfaction. Two groups of participants attended a 14-week trauma-informed, educational support program in 2 consecutive sessions. The program was designed in collaboration with George Brown College, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Wellesley Institute, and the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture. The study aimed to understand the link between psychological capital and life satisfaction among refugees. Findings show that the participants' psychological capital-particularly PsyCap-resilience and PsyCap-optimism-improved consistently, which in turn was reflected in the participants' improved life satisfaction. The result also indicated a relationship between the four main characteristics of psychological capital and life satisfaction. We conclude that these indications of a potential positive association between refugees' psychological capital and life satisfaction should be further examined.

“My mind is not like before”: Psychosocial rehabilitation of victims of torture in Athens

Introduction: The dual trauma of being a victim of torture as well as a refugee is related to a myriad of losses, human rights violations and other dimensions of suffering linked to torture experienced pre-migration, as well as different forms of violence experienced during and after migration.
 Method: To present three case studies to explore culturally-informed perspectives on trauma among victims of torture and track trajectories of psychosocial rehabilitation in relation to environmental factors. The case studies are part of a larger qualitative study of asylum seekers and refugees in a center for victims of torture in Athens, managed by Médecins Sans Frontières and Babel in collaboration with Greek Council for Refugees, which follows beneficiaries, their care providers and community representatives and leaders.
 Results: Key themes emerging include the substantial psychological impact of current material realities of migrant victims of torture as they adapt to their new environment and engage in rehabilitation. Delayed asylum trials, poor living conditions and unemployment have a substantial impact on posttraumatic symptoms that in turn influence psychosocial rehabilitation. Personal, social, and cultural resources emerged as having a mediating effect.
 Discussion: The results highlight the significant impact of the political, legal, and sociocultural environment on psychosocial rehabilitation. Practical implications for interventions are to ensure holistic, interdisciplinary, and culturally sensitive care which includes a focus on environmental factors affecting resilience; and with a dynamic focus on the totality of the individual over isolated pathologies.

‘This is not paranoia, this is real life’: Psychosocial interventions for refugee victims of torture in Athens

The need for culturally relevant treatment interventions for refugees focusing on post-migration factors is clearly of no small concern. To (i) explore culturally informed perspectives on trauma from an individual, qualitative perspective and (ii) track the trajectory of post-traumatic responses in relation to processes of social integration, we present the results of 12 months of research among asylum seekers and refugees in an NGO-run centre for victims of torture in Athens, Greece. This included an in-depth follow-up of 10 victims of torture, as well as interviews with 36 health professionals, seven cultural mediators and 21 refugee community leaders. A case study from the research project is presented to illustrate the substantial psychological impact of current material realities of refugee victims of torture as they adapt to their new environment. An interpersonal-social model is presented which examines various post-migration ‘feedback loops’ influencing post-traumatic symptomatology. Key implications for practice Professionals working with refugee populations need to take into account the various cultural manifestations and understandings of trauma Post-migration factors encountered in Europe, including delayed asylum trials and poor living conditions, have a substantial impact on post-traumatic symptoms Psychosocial interventions need to include a focus on the current social, political and economic context.

Refugees, Higher Education, and Informational Barriers

The purpose of the qualitative study was to explore the experiences, needs, barriers, and expectations of survivors of torture and/or war, interested in entering post-secondary education in Canada. We conducted 38 interviews with participants from the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT), 10 interviews with CCVT staff, and 1 focus group with 3 participants, which followed a semi-structured interview guide, and were analyzed using a constant comparative method. Survivors of torture and/or war report experiencing informational barriers to navigating educational pathways, accessing professional supports, evaluating credentials, financing education, navigating immigration systems, using online resources, delaying their educational progress, and contributing to mental health distress.

Restoring Hope and Dignity CVT Manual

The Restoring Hope and Dignity CVT Manual was developed by the Center for Victims of Torture in Minnesota and is meant for group counselling. It was made possible due to financial support from different US Agencies and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population.

Problems and Solutions in US Refugee Resettlement Policy: An Interview with Liyam Eloul

Liyam Eloul is a trauma therapist specialized in the field of refugee mental health. She received her BA in Cultural Psychology from Queen’s University, Ontario, a graduate diploma in Psychosocial Interventions for Refugees and Forced Migrants at the American University in Cairo, and her MA in International Disaster Psychology from the University of Denver. Eloul has worked with resettled refugee populations in the United States and refugee populations in Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria, Oman, and Jordan. She received a Fulbright Award for cross-cultural trauma research in Oman, and has published on mental health and psychosocial programming in the United States, Oman, and Syria. Currently, Eloul is a Psychotherapist Trainer with the Center for Victims of Torture in Amman, Jordan.

Moving the Mental Health Equity Dialogue Forward: The Promise of a Social Entrepreneur Framework

In this commentary the authors highlight the difficulties developed countries have had in generating effective means of addressing inequities in mental health. Limitations in research, policy, and service responses are discussed and the social entrepreneurship framework is suggested as a means of better understanding how mental health disparities might be addressed. The example of the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture is provided to illustrate the points made.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Democratic Development in Nepal

Today, centres and programmes for the rehabilitation of torture victims are found all over the world. In Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries, the Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT) has since 1990 provided advanced psychosocial rehabilitation programmes. These and similar psychosocial interventions have made critics proclaim that Western psychosocial expertise subjects the bereaved of the Third World to repressive administrative power by objectifying and colonizing their minds. Meanwhile, advocates of psychosocial rehabilitation maintain that such criticisms fail to appreciate the ability of local healing strategies to actually empower torture victims through rehabilitation programmes. Inspired by Michel Foucault’s concept of government, this article argues that both these assessments of torture rehabilitation overlook forms of power that work through the constitution of subjectivities. On both a discursive and a technical‐practical level, the psychosocial therapy offered by the CVICT is trying to make torture victims align their personal desires and freedom with the political objectives of turning Nepal into a liberal democracy.

Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT): "Hope after the Horror"

Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT): "Hope after the Horror"

Prevalence of mental disorders and torture among Bhutanese refugees in Nepal: a systemic review and its policy implications

The mass expulsion and exile of Bhutanese de facto refugees to displaced camps in Nepal represents one of the world's most neglected humanitarian crises. We aimed to summarize the impact of the long-term displacement on refugee mental illness using systematic review techniques, a methodology seldom used in the humanitarian field. In order to examine the impact among the population and the association between tortured refugees over non-tortured refugees, we searched 11 electronic databases from inception to 12 May 2006. We additionally contacted researchers at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and at the Centre for Victims of Torture, Kathmandu, and searched the websites of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Relief-Web, and the US State Department. We included any studies that use a pre-defined protocol to determine mental illness within this population. Six studies met our inclusion criteria. All were conducted amongst the Bhutanese populations residing in Nepalese refugee camps, and include a sub-sample of 2,331 torture survivors residing in the camps, identified in 1995. All studies report a dramatically high incidence of mental illness including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Both tortured and non-tortured participants reported elevated rates of mental illness. Our review indicates that the prevalence of serious mental health disorders within this population is elevated. The reported incidence of torture is a possible contributor to the illnesses. The use of systematic review techniques strengthens the inference that systematic human rights violations were levied upon this population and that they continue to suffer as a result. The international community must resolve this protracted crisis.

The Healing Power of Symbolization in the Aftermath of Massive War Atrocities: Examples From Liberian and Sierra Leonean Survivors

In the aftermath of war atrocities, symbolization—a process whereby an experience or emotion that has been unexpressed is given form—can provide survivors with a sense of relief and solace and can attenuate isolation by permitting traumatic experiences to be shared with and acknowledged by others. This article focuses on creative methods of symbolization used in a trauma counseling program for Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees in the refugee camps of Guinea. The program, developed by the Center for Victims of Torture, integrated contemporary expressive therapy techniques with indigenous healing practices (e.g., songs, cultural stories, drama, drawing, dance/movement, letter-writing, rituals). A case example of the treatment of a war-traumatized Liberian boy is presented. The psychological harm of war atrocities is exacerbated by silence. Conversely, as victims find ways of giving form to their experiences—verbally, nonverbally, or via a combination of the two—psychological and social repair become possible.

Program Helps Torture Victims Find Solace, Healing

Program Helps Torture Victims Find Solace, Healing

Trauma healing in refugee camps in guinea: A psychosocial program for Liberian and Sierra Leonean survivors of torture and war.

From 1999 to 2005, the Minneapolis-based Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) served Liberian and Sierra Leonean survivors of torture and war living in the refugee camps of Guinea. A psychosocial program was developed with 3 main goals: (a) to provide mental health care, (b) to train local refugee counselors, and (c) to raise community awareness about war trauma and mental health. Utilizing paraprofessional counselors under the close, on-site supervision of expatriate clinicians, the treatment model blended elements of Western and indigenous healing. The core component consisted of relationship-based supportive group counseling. Clinical interventions were guided by a 3-stage model of trauma recovery (safety, mourning, reconnection), which was adapted to the realities of the refugee camp setting. Over 4,000 clients were provided with counseling, and an additional 15,000 were provided with other supportive services. Results from follow-up assessments indicated significant reductions in trauma symptoms and increases in measures of daily functioning and social support during and after participation in groups. The treatment model developed in Guinea served as the basis for CVT's ongoing work with survivors in Sierra Leone and Liberia. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Center for Victims of Torture-Guinea 2004-2005 International Mental Health Team: International Humanitarian Award.

Presents the citation for the Center for Victims of Torture--Guinea 2004-2005 International Mental Health Team, who received the International Humanitarian Award "for their outstanding commitment to the healing of torture victims and to educating the world community about torture and war trauma." A brief profile of the Center is presented, as well as the Center's award address, entitled Trauma Healing in Refugee Camps in Guinea: A Psychosocial Program for Liberian and Sierra Leonean Survivors of Torture and War. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Cultural Challenges to Psychosocial Counselling in Nepal

This article describes the way in which the practice of psychosocial counselling was adapted culturally to the context of Nepal within the Centre for Victims of Torture, Nepal (CVICT). After a brief description of the Nepali setting and CVICT's counselling and training approach and the relationship of its psychosocial counselling intervention with existing methods of dealing with psychosocial problems, the cultural challenges of implementing psychosocial counselling and our response to them are sketched along with concepts deemed important in psychosocial counselling. A discussion follows in which the authors' stance on the export of psychosocial counselling to non-western cultures is outlined.

Mental Health and Violence/Trauma in Palestine: Implications for Helping Professional Practice

This article analyses 4 case studies of clinical interventions occurring at the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, Ramallah, Palestine. Each family was of Arab background and experienced violence and trauma while living in the West Bank. The impact of the violence was all encompassing. Family functioning was significantly affected, and individuals experienced such problems as psychological trauma, depression, social exclusion, and economic deprivation. Therapy is important to these cases; but long-term solutions are ultimately political.

The torturous road to democracy—domestic crisis in Nepal

Largely unnoticed by the outside world, an armed Maoist insurgence has wrested control of areas in 45 of Nepal's 75 administrative regions and has resulted in more than 1700 deaths since 1996.(1) State figures indicate that 1000 of these people were Maoist and about 400 were police-120 of whom died in attacks on police outposts in early April and July of 2001 alone. The remainder were "class enemies" of the "People's War"-ie, members of ruling parties. As public security collapses, the consequences for the Nepalese are random imprisonment, torture, and risk of extrajudiciary execution from both sides. Torture has increased greatly as a consequence of the insurgence, but was already deeply rooted in Nepalese authority and used as a primary approach to solving crime. More than 70% of Nepalese prisoners claim to have been tortured while in custody, and at least 50% claim they signed confessions as a result. INSEC (Informal Sector Service Centre), a human rights organisation, documented 1035 cases of state perpetrated torture in the year 2000,(2) which has been suggested to be a gross underestimate of the true figure. The long-term physical, social, and psychosocial consequences for survivors are often severe. The Centre for Victims of Torture, Nepal, a non-government organisation based in Kathmandu, has been studying the effect of torture on survivors, and has implemented Nepal's only treatment programmes for those brave enough to seek help.