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It is estimated that about 1% of the world's population has been displaced either from their home or from their home country. In addition to physical injury, these persons are at high risk for chronic mental health disorders because of the multiple stressors they experience before, during, and after their flight. They are at particularly high risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (persisting recurrent and disturbing memories and flashbacks of a witnessed or experienced trauma, along with other symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, feeling detached from people and current experiences, and exaggerated startle responses), depression, and somatization (emotional trauma or stress experienced as physical symptoms).

Refugees are persons who flee their home country to a different country to escape conflict. The term refugee includes asylum-seekers (individuals who are forced to leave their country to avoid persecution often due to political or religious beliefs). Internally displaced persons are persons who are forced . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Sarah Ringold, MD, Writer; Alison Burke, MA, Illustrator; Richard M. Glass, MD, Editor

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