This study looks at the importance within a therapeutic context, of recognizing refugees' cultural beliefs and attitudes about concepts of 'health' and 'illness' and the effects of social and cultural dislocation. Over a period of about four years there was a small but significant increase in the number of referrals for refugees to our mental health day hospital. All these individuals had experienced the upheaval of war or conflict, many had been tortured prior to their enforced exile and although most had been resident in the UK for a number of years, they appeared still to be suffering, several years on. We wanted to explore through their personal testimonies, what had occurred to them both pre- and post-exile, what were their views about the treatment they had received and what factors were preventing them from being able to live satisfactory lives after so many years. © Oxford University Press 2001.

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refugee mental health hospital sector survival