Somatic-focused therapy for traumatized refugees: Treating posttraumatic stress disorder and comorbid neck-focused panic attacks among cambodian refugees.

Abstract

The authors outline six steps to develop culturally sensitive treatment for traumatized refugees, which focus on somatic symptoms. Among Cambodian refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder, the authors describe a somatic presentation (viz., neck-focused panic attacks) that forms a key aspect of trauma-related disorder, how those panic attacks are generated, and a treatment that specifically targets those panic attacks. Evidence of treatment efficacy is provided through a multiple-baseline, across-subjects design (N = 3), and one treatment case is described to illustrate clinical presentation and treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).