Asylee perspectives on psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress

Abstract

Asylees (i.e., asylum seekers) have a higher prevalence of mental health concerns, particularly posttraumatic distress, than the general population due to both their exposure to traumatic experiences and prolonged uncertain status in a new country. Meta‐analyses of randomized controlled trials with asylees have found that culturally adapted cognitive behavioral therapy (CA‐CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and narrative exposure therapy (NET) are efficacious in treating trauma‐related symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, treatment utilization remains low. Thus, it is imperative to determine what PTSD interventions are effective, credible, and acceptable for asylees. We employed structured virtual interviews with 40 U.S. asylees from diverse countries living with one or more symptoms of PTSD. Participants were asked about treatment engagement, perceived barriers to treatment, goals for psychotherapy, and perceptions of the effectiveness and difficulty of engaging in CA‐CBT, EMDR, NET, and (non–exposure‐based) interpersonal therapy (IPT) for PTSD. Participants perceived IPT to be significantly less difficult than all exposure‐based treatments, with medium effect sizes, ds = 0.55–0.71. A qualitative analysis of asylees’ comments provided valuable insights into how they think about these treatments. Ways in which these results can be considered when informing recommendations for improving interventions for asylees are discussed.