Effect of political imprisonment and trauma history on recent Tibetan refugees in India.
We sought to examine the impact of political imprisonment on anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms reported by newly arrived Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala, India. We used the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 to compare 76 previously imprisoned with 74 never imprisoned recent Tibetan refugees. Previously imprisoned refugees reported more traumatic events, especially torture and deprivation. Previously imprisoned refugees reported more anxiety than nonimprisoned refugees, but the groups were similarly high in terms of depression and number of somatic complaints. According to assessment with the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, 20% of the tortured and imprisoned refugees met criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder.
Crescenzi
Antonella
A
Department of Health, Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Ketzer
Eva
E
Van Ommeren
Mark
M
Phuntsok
Kalsang
K
Komproe
Ivan
I
de Jong
Joop T V M
JT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000208:ethnology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018609:Tibet / Q000208:ethnology