The present study aimed to identify trauma types over the life course among adult refugees and to explore their accounts of childhood maltreatment. A sample of 43 Arabic-speaking refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) attending a treatment context in Denmark were interviewed. Using a “Trauma Coding Manual” developed for this study, trauma types were identified in interview transcripts. In both men and women with Iraqi and Palestinian-Lebanese backgrounds, high levels of trauma complexity and high rates of childhood maltreatment were found (63%, n = 27). A number of concepts and categories emerged in the domains childhood physical abuse (CPA), childhood emotional abuse (CEA), and neglect. Participants articulated wide personal impacts of child abuse in emotional, relational, and behavioral domains in their adult lives. These narratives contribute valuable clinical information for refugee trauma treatment providers. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.

Child abuse attachment trauma adult refugees with PTSD childhood maltreatment Qualitative analysis complex trauma

refugee Israel Iraqi child neglect literature human Denmark object relation Object Attachment Iraq emotional abuse ethnology clinical study qualitative research physical abuse Lebanon Adult Survivors of Child Abuse child abuse survivor psychology Arabic (language) Humans male female clinical article cultural factor Article Child Abuse adult posttraumatic stress disorder Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic Palestinian Psychological Trauma Lebanese psychotrauma Personal Narratives as Topic disease association emotional attachment