Trauma and Migration

This new edition offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the challenges, clinical concerns, and evidence-based approaches related to trauma and trauma-related disorders, as well as the current state of research on disorder-specific, trauma-focused psychotherapies, with particular attention to cultural sensitivity.

Exposure to life-threatening events that evoke profound helplessness and loss of control can result in severe psychological trauma. When such experiences are excessively aversive or horrific, they may not be successfully integrated into autobiographical memory. Instead, fragmented memory traces are formed which, unlike ordinary memories, do not undergo adaptive modification over time but remain rigid and enduring, as if frozen. These fragments can be reactivated by stimuli reminiscent of the original event and may subsequently re-emerge in the form of intrusive symptoms, such as flashbacks.

Given the high prevalence of trauma-related secondary disorders among individuals with migration and refugee backgrounds, there is an urgent need for culturally sensitive and non-discriminatory trauma-focused psychotherapeutic interventions in order to address the substantial gaps in mental health care.