“”I still have my life” said Dima (an unaccompanied adolescent from Africa) quietly, after a long break that followed the seemingly endless list of her losses and painful experiences. Her short sentence reflected a deep sadness for everything she had lost, but it also signaled a triumph of the survivor ready to pick up the threads of her life and go on. Like many refugees, Dima is confronted not only with the painful experiences of the past, but also with many open questions: How to make sense of what has happened? How to reorganize life in the unfamiliar new world? How to re-dream the future? The refugee experience can be seen as a cycle of disruptions, losses and transitions, where the central question that each refugee has to face is: how to re-start a meaningful life? Refugees arriving in Europe are confronted with the almost impossible task of making peace with the past while faced with a lengthy asylum procedure with uncertain outcome, of re-establishing the disrupted stability and continuity within an unstable, unpredictable situation. They have to regain control over their lives while being in a position of powerlessness, to re-stage a future life while the perspectives seem to be closed. Mental health professionals working to assist refugees are confronted with similar questions, dilemmas and paradoxes. Many theories, methods and techniques have been developed in the last few decades from which mental health professionals can choose their approach to the complex problems of refugees. Different approaches emphasize different aspects (medical-psychological, psychosocial or cultural) of the refugee experience. Whatever choice is made, it is essential that we never lose sight of the fact that the task for refugees is to solve an existential riddle and find a way to live a meaningful life despite what has happened to them, in the face of extremely difficult conditions in the present and an often still uncertain future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved)” – Description by PsycINFO
