Among psychologically distressed Cambodian refugees, somatic complaints are particularly prominent. Cambodians interpret anxiety-related somatic sensations in terms of "Wind" (khyâl), an ethnophysiology that gives rise to multiple catastrophic interpretations; and they have prominent trauma-memory associations to anxiety-related somatic symptoms. In this article, we detail some of the common sensation-related dysphoric networks of Cambodian refugees, focusing on catastrophic cognitions and trauma associations. We argue that delineating symptom-related dysphoric networks is crucial to successfully adapt cognitive-behavioral interventions to treat panic disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder among Cambodian refugees, and that such an approach may be useful for the culturally sensitive adaptation of cognitive-behavior therapy for other traumatized non-Western groups. © 2006.

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rating scale symptomatology cultural anthropology Chinese refugee weakness Cambodia terminal disease survival Neurasthenia mental health human priority journal health status guilt anger cognitive therapy ethnology medical practice panic dizziness mental patient faintness sleep disorder scoring system Article emotion dysphoria neurophysiology behavior theory posttraumatic stress disorder generalized anxiety disorder disease severity heart palpitation psychotrauma cardiovascular system