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The Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture provides comprehensive medical and mental health care, as well as social and legal services to survivors of torture and war traumas and their family members. In the past year alone we provided these multidisciplinary services to more than 700 people from 70 countries.
Since its inception in 1995, the Program has developed an international reputation for excellence in our clinical, educational and research activities. Our mission is to assist individuals and families subjected to torture and war trauma to re-build health, self-sufficient lives and to contribute knowledge and testimony to global efforts to end torture.
Program Updates
- Support for PSOT's Interdisciplinary Approach: "Correlates of Symptom Reduction in Treatment-Seeking Survivors of Torture"
Publication on April 30, 2012 in the Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy by Raghavan, Sumithra; Rasmussen, Andrew; Rosenfeld, Barry; Keller, Allen S.
ABSTRACT
While a growing body of literature addresses the psychological consequences of torture and war trauma, there are few empirical examinations of treatment for survivors of torture. This study offers a program evaluation of a comprehensive torture treatment program in New York City. We present literature surrounding the interdisciplinary “wraparound” approach to treating survivors of torture, and examine the relationship between clinical services and symptom reduction in a multinational sample of refugees (N = 172) receiving treatment over a 6-month period. Clients were administered the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) during their intake interview and six months later. We found that approximately 45% (n = 77) of treated clients displayed clinically significant improvement on either the HTQ, or the BSI subscales of Depression, Anxiety, or Somatization, over the six months following their intake evaluation. Generalized linear models revealed that gaining secure immigration status was the strongest correlate of clinical improvement. However, psychotherapy and attendance at educational sessions predicted improvement in symptoms beyond adjusting to a more secure immigration status. While this study's correlational design does not establish that treatment caused the observed improvement, results point to the pivotal role of both clinical and “nonclinical” services and provide preliminary support for the value of an interdisciplinary approach. More research is needed to understand mechanisms of change and improvement in this sensitive population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
