Mental health interventions

As mentioned in Module 1, emotional and social support can act as a buffer to mental health problems and illnesses. For survivors of torture, such support is very important because common resettlement stressors such as financial difficulties or social isolation have been found to exacerbate symptoms of PTSD and depression (Gorst-Unsworth & Goldenberg, 1998). Providing appropriate, accessible services can help reduce the compounding impact of the psychological effects of torture, forced displacement and settlement stress.

A variety of interventions have been found to produce improvements in mental illness symptoms for survivors of torture, though much of the research involves PTSD symptoms (McFarlane & Kaplan, 2012). Depression and anxiety in survivors has also been studied, though to a lesser extent.

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) can significantly reduce PTSD symptoms (Hensel-Dittmann et al., 2010). The use of CBT with trauma exposure components has been shown to be effective in treating the symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety in survivors of torture (Weiss et al., 2016). In terms of sense of connection, group treatment may be well-suited to some of the vulnerabilities that survivors of torture experience to respond to post-trauma symptoms, minimize isolation, share support and regain a feeling of community (Bunn et al., 2016).

The settlement process can be very traumatic for survivors of torture, especially due to the need to overcome various settlement challenges (CCVT, n.d.). In post-migration, these individuals attempt to recover from their trauma “…essentially in a place of exile where systems, language, culture and identity all need to be renegotiated” (FASSTT, 2014). As with any client, establishing trust is important; however, this may take time as survivors of torture may be reluctant to trust strangers (CCVT, n.d.(b)).