title: The effectiveness of psychotherapy with refugees and asylum seekers: preliminary results from an Austrian study.
abstract: An Austrian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) offered psychotherapy to 37 asylum seekers and refugees (21 of them female) with a mean age of 36.1 years (s = 7.5), with the majority of them from Chechnya or Afghanistan. Comparative data between the start of therapy and the time of evaluation revealed a highly significant positive effect (d = 0.77), while most therapies were still going on. By a retrospective measure of perceived change, 85% of the participants reported significant improvements. The results show that even under difficult conditions, when working with asylum seekers and refugees, psychotherapy can be effective.
authors.affiliation: Social Psychology, Ethnopsychoanalysis and Psychotraumatology Unit, Department of Psychology, Alps-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Universitätsstrasse 65-67, 9020, Klagenfurt, Austria. walter.renner@uni-klu.ac.at
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Renner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000346:Afghanistan / Q000208:ethnology; D001317:Austria; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D012426:Russia / Q000208:ethnology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy*