Mental health problems among asylum seekers and refugees are becoming a public issue, but awareness of this problem among the mental health community is relatively low. Although advances have been made in the provision of innovative mental health services for asylum seekers and refuges with PTSD, they are not systemized, and not widely known to professionals in the field. A publication offering practical guidelines for the treatment of torture victims and political refugees does not exist. Broken Spirits aims to bring together the works of the most respected mental health professionals - from the U.S. and abroad - and make available the most current knowledge on complex PTSD, forced migration and cultural sensitivity in diagnosis and treatment.

Table of Contents:
Foreword. About the Editors. Contributors. Acknowledgements. Preface. Part I: Theoretical, Conceptual and Socio-cultural Considerations. Wilson, Introduction. Volkan, From Hope for a Better Life to Broken Spirits: An Introduction. Silove, The Global Challenge of Asylum. Modvig, Jaranson, A Global Perspective of Torture, Political Violence and Health. Aroche, Coello, Ethnocultural Considerations in the Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers. McFarlane, Assessing PTSD and Co-morbidity: Issues in Differential Diagnosis. Part II: Broken Spirits: Traumatic Injury to Culture, the Self and Personality. Wilson, Introduction. Wilson, The Broken Spirit: Posttaumatic Damage to the Self . de Jong, Public Mental Health and Culture: Disasters as a Challenge to Western Mental Health Care Models, the Self and PTSD. Part III: Post-traumatic Treatments: Guidelines for Practitioners. Wilson, Introduction. van der Veer, van Waning, Creating a Safe Therapeutic Sanctuary. Turkovic, Hovens, Gregurek, Strengthening Psychological Health in War Victims and Refugees. Drodzek, Wilson, Uncovering: Trauma Focused Treatment Techniques with Asylum Seekers. Wilson, Empathy, Trauma Transmission and Counter-transference in Posttraumatic Psychotherapy. Lansen, Haans, Clinical Supervision for Trauma Therapists. Bot, Wadensjo, The Presence of a Third Party: A Dialogical View on Interpreter-assisted Treatment. Part IV: Non-verbal and Experiential Therapies. Wilson, Introduction to Part IV. de Winter, Drodzek, Psychomotor Therapy: Healing by Action. Karcher, Body Psychotherapy with Survivors of Torture. Wertheim-Cahen, van Dijk, Schouten, Roozen, Drodzek, About a Weeping Willow, a Phoenix Rising from its Ashes and Building a House... Art Therapy with Refugees: Three Different Perspectives. Orth, Doorschodt, Verburgt, Drodzek, Sounds of Trauma. Part V: Treatment of Special Populations: Gender and Developmental Considerations. Wilson, Introduction to Part V. Walter, Bala, Where Meanings, Sorrow and Hope have a Resident Permit: Treatment of Families and Children. Adam, van Essen, In Between - Adolescent Refugees in Exile. Kastrup, Arcel, Gender Specific Treatment. Part VI: Medical, Surgical and Clinical Issues in the Treatment of Refugees and Torture Victims. Wilson, Introduction to Part VI. Kinzie, Friedman, Psychopharmacology for Refugee and Asylum Seeker Patients. Juhler, Surgical Approach to Victims of Torture and PTSD. Ekblad, Jaranson, Psychosocial Rehabilitation. Part VII: Legal, Moral and Political Issues in the Treatment Process. Wilson, Introduction to Part VII. Herlihy, Ferstman, Turner, Legal Issues in Work with Asylum Seekers. Steele, Mares, Newman, Blick, Dudley, The Politics of Asylum and Immigration Detention: Advocacy, Ethics and the Professional Role of the Therapist.