The Mental Health Consequences of Torture / Edition 1

by Ellen Gerrity, Terence M. Keane, Farris Tuma

Overview

In 1997 the National Institute of Mental Health assembled a working group of international experts to address the mental health consequences of torture and related violence and trauma; report on the status of scientific knowledge; and include research recommendations with implications for treatment, services, and policy development. This book, dedicated to those who experience the horrors of torture and those who work to end it, is based on that report.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306464225
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	03/31/2001
Series:	Springer Series on Stress and Coping
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	375
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.04(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. The Survivors’ Perspective: Voices from the Center.- 3. Torture and Mental Health: A Research Overview.- 4. Psychosocial Models.- 5. Neurobiological Models of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.- 6. Economic Models.- 7. Refugees and Asylum-Seekers.- 8. Veterans of Armed Conflicts.- 9. Former Prisoners of War: Highlights of Empirical Research.- 10. Holocaust Trauma and Sequelae.- 11. Survivors of War Trauma, Mass Violence, and Civilian Terror.- 12. Rape and Sexual Assault.- 13. Homicide and Physical Assault.- 14. Children, Adolescents, and Families Exposed to Torture and Related Trauma.- 15. Domestic Violence in Families Exposed to Torture and Related Violence and Trauma.- 16. Assessment, Diagnosis, and Intervention.- 17. Measurement Issues.- 18. Mental Health Services Research: Implications for Survivors of Torture.- 19. Professional Caregiver and Observer Issues.- 20. Torture and Human Rights Violations: Public Policy and the Law.- 21. Future Directions.- Contributors: Biographical Information.

Editorial Reviews

Gerrity (National Institute of Mental Health), Keane (psychiatry, Boston U. School of Medicine) and Tuma (National Institute of Mental Health) present a review of the scientific evidence about the mental health consequences of torture and related violence and trauma. As a broadly focused review, the work addresses such topics as the short- and long-term psychological, neurobiological, social, economic, and disability-related consequences of such trauma: models for studying these consequences; treatment and rehabilitation for survivors; and models for delivering mental health services. Research information related to public policy, legal issues, and caregiving is included. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"The monograph is a rich resource for clinicians and researchers working with torture and trauma survivors. More skilled clinicians are needed in Australia to enhance our response to these marginalized and abused groups of people. This book is an important weapon in mobilizing and underpinning such a response."

(Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36:2 (2002)

"This book is a must for anyone who is involved with the treatment of violence and its consequences. Clinicians, researchers, policy makers both home and abroad, those in the legal profession, and the victims themselves, if they feel so inclined, will find this book well worth reading."

(Psychiatric Services, 54:7)

From the Publisher