Post-traumatic stress disorder in Asian refugees.

This study profiles 127 cases of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian and Chinese refugee outpatients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Traumatic etiologies included victims of wars such as political refugees, concentration camp prisoners and victims of rape, severe personal losses (property or human lives). These traumata were experienced by our subjects during the period between the end of the Vietnam war in April 1975 and recent times, when they finally arrived in the USA. Clinical symptoms of these subjects reflected many influences of their oriental culture background and are characterized by internalization that needs to be overcome for assessment as well as for therapy. Symptomatic treatment with psychopharmacology and supportive therapy are helpful while cultural approaches have been adopted by many patients to reach the inner self pathology that could be of both mental and organic in nature. These facts need to be taken into consideration in the future description of the PTSD clinical picture. Recommendations are made for future PTSD studies in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and to promote a global movement for prevention of any socio-political situation that may generate PTSD.