Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Refugees

Many people who are forced to migrate to Germany due to war or political persecution have been exposed to stressful life events (e.g., torture, combat, or rape). These events are often followed by Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Symptoms include repeated painful memories, nightmares, sleep disturbances, and difficulties to concentrate.

Our therapy

In this project we provide a treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder that helps to deal with distressing memories. The therapy will be administered in Frankfurt or Darmstadt.

A trained psychotherapist will provide twelve treatment sessions of Cognitive Processing Therapy (100 minutes). The therapist will help you to overcome painful thoughts and feelings related to your distressing memories. You will learn to regain a sense of safety and control. If needed, the therapy can be supported by a translator of Farsi/Dari or Arabic.

We will evaluate the therapy. Thus, participants will receive diagnostic interviews in Frankfurt before and after the treatment as well as six weeks after the treatment.

You can participate if you:

  • Were forced to migrate from an unsafe country
  • Suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
  • Have good knowledge in either German, English, Farsi/Dari, or Arabic
  • Are aged 18-65
  • Have the possibility to participate in the project for eight months, to perform out-of-session therapy tasks, and to participate in the diagnostic sessions before and after treatment in Frankfurt

Exclusion criteria:

  • Receiving other psychotherapeutic treatment
  • Addiction from alcohol, drugs or pharmaceuticals
  • Psychotic disorder or mania

If you are interested in the project, contact us for a brief screening on the phone.

If this is the right treatment for you, we offer you 12-16 sessions of weekly psychotherapy in either Frankfurt or Darmstadt – depending on where you live. If the project does not fit your needs, we will name you other services.

 

Contact:

Dipl.-Psych. Nora Görg

Email: Goerg@psych.uni-frankfurt.de

Phone: 069-79823844

 

Principal investigators:

PD Dr. Regina Steil

Dr. Meike Müller-Engelmann

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Stangier

Dr. Jana Gutermann