Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Volume 190, Issue 7, 2002, Pages 437-441

The effects of September 11 on traumatized refugees: Reactivation of posttraumatic stress disorder (Article)

Kinzie J.D.* , Boehnlein J.K. , Riley C. , Sparr L.
  • a Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, UHN-80, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97201-3098, United States
  • b Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, UHN-80, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97201-3098, United States
  • c Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, UHN-80, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97201-3098, United States
  • d Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, UHN-80, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97201-3098, United States

Abstract

Secondary traumatization from the tragic events of September 11, 2001 was studied among an ethnically diverse group of refugees who had been previously traumatized in their native war tom countries. A brief clinically oriented questionnaire was developed and administered to a clinic population of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Bosnian and Somalian refugees in the Intercultural Psychiatric Program at Oregon Health & Science University. Traumatic symptoms and responses to the widely televised images from September 11 were assessed among the five ethnic groups, and the differential responses among patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and schizophrenia also were assessed. The strongest responses were among Bosnian and Somalian patients with PTSD, and the Somalis had the greatest deterioration in their subjective sense of safety and security. Regardless of ethnic group, PTSD patients reacted most intensely, and patients with schizophrenia the least. Although patients largely returned to their baseline clinical status after two to three months, this study shows that cross-cultural reactivation of trauma has a significant clinical impact. It is essential that clinicians anticipate PTSD symptom reactivation among refugees when they are reexposed to significant traumatic stimuli.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

Vietnam depression refugee schizophrenia Cambodia television Laos Terrorism human Schizophrenic Psychology Life Change Events Refugees middle aged Ethnic Groups ethnic group Aged Depressive Disorder United States Bosnia-Herzegovina Humans male female safety cultural factor symptom Recurrence Article major clinical study adult New York City posttraumatic stress disorder Somalia Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic psychotrauma Oregon
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0036316094&doi=10.1097%2f00005053-200207000-00003&partnerID=40&md5=fddef0f02ffafcbf810e6b2f8d4a996f
DOI: 10.1097/00005053-200207000-00003
ISSN: 00223018
Cited by: 67
Original Language: English