The plight of refugees has been well documented. Their need for food, shelter and protection is widely recognized. Concern for refugees' mental health, however, has too long been neglected.
This manual—intended for those who work with refugees and other displaced persons or who aim to assist them—looks at the mental health problems that are all too common in persons who have fled their homes and countries. War and natural disasters cause stress, terror, loss and bereavement. These may in turn be compounded by the effects of torture or rape. The manual describes the mental health impact of these and other traumatic experiences. It gives practical advice on how to help refugees and other displaced persons through counselling, self-help groups, modern drugs and traditional medicine. There is a special section on the mental health of refugee children. The refugee experience begins with fear and often progresses, amid all kinds of physical hardship and difficulty, to a state of hopelessness and despair. This manual cannot change the situation in which refugees find themselves. Rather, its aim is to strengthen refugees' own capacity to face up to, and perhaps even overcome, the desperate situation they are in.