More than 700,000 refugees from Southeast Asia have settled in the United States since 1975. Although many have suffered serious trauma, including torture, few clinical reports have described their trauma-related symptoms and psychosocial problems. The authors conducted a treatment study of 52 patients in a clinic for Indochinese. They found that these patients were a highly traumatized group; each had experienced a mean of 10 traumatic events and two torture experiences. Many of the patients had concurrent diagnosis of major affective disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder as well as medical and social disabilities associated with their history of trauma. The authors also found that Cambodian women without spouses demonstrated more serious psychiatric and social impairments than all other Indochinese patient groups.

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Vietnam depression refugee psychological aspect Cambodia Laos Single Person Dreams human sex difference Life Change Events Refugees life event Ethnic Groups ethnic group comparative study Depressive Disorder ethnology family size Mental Disorders mental disease United States male dream Viet Nam female clinical article Article migration posttraumatic stress disorder Sex Factors Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ethnic or racial aspects social disability affective neurosis Torture