In this article we illustrate how we utilize acceptance and mindfulness techniques in our treatment (Culturally Adapted CBT, or CA-CBT) for traumatized refugees and ethnic minority populations. We present a Nodal Network Model (NNM) of Affect to explain the treatment's emphasis on body-centered mindfulness techniques and its focus on psychological…

Cambodian Americans are a fairly recent language minority group in the United States; most families arrived in the United States as refugees during the 1980s. Over the past 30 years, there has been great concern in the community regarding the maintenance loss of their native Khmer language. This article provides an historical and contemporary…

Basic information that teachers of English as a second language should know about Indochinese refugees, including the identification of different ethnic or regional groups and characteristics of four Indochinese languages, is presented. Indochinese refugees come from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The five major groups of people are unrelated…

This study addresses ways Khmer refugee elders utilize traditional herbal medicine with Western biomedicine in the treatment and prevention of illnesses. Methods include semi-structured and informal interviews with elders and family members, semi-structured interviews with local health care providers and Khmer physicians, and participant…

Among psychologically distressed Cambodian refugees, somatic complaints are particularly prominent. Cambodians interpret anxiety-related somatic sensations in terms of "Wind" ("khyal"), an ethnophysiology that gives rise to multiple catastrophic interpretations; and they have prominent trauma-memory associations to anxiety-related somatic…

Examines the psychosocial adjustment issues encountered by Cambodian refugee women. Presents a discussion on premigration and postmigration challenges as well as a discussion on how premigration trauma experiences impact postmigration adjustment. Discusses implications for multicultural counseling and presents recommendations for mental health…

Consecutive Cambodian refugees (N = 100) attending a psychiatric clinic were assessed for the presence and severity of current orthostatic panic (OP), which is defined as panic triggered by standing up. The patients with current OP (n = 36) had significantly greater psychopathology than patients without current OP. During OP, trauma associations…

This study of the unusually high level of labor force participation in the Hawaiian Cambodian community includes descriptions of what Cambodians do in Hawaii, demographic descriptions of the community and household units, a description of the influence of the welfare system on the Cambodian community, and ethnographic descriptions of the lives of…

Interviewed 170 Cambodian refugee youth and 80 of their mothers living in Portland, Oregon, regarding posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the stress of war, resettlement, and recent life events. A consistent relationship between earlier war trauma, resettlement stress, and symptoms of PTSD was found. In contrast, the strongest relationship to…

The author finds the Khmer refugee parents of children in Boston area schools to be relatively uninterested in the question of their children's education, following from a fatalistic outlook that distinguishes them from other Southeast Asian refugees, whose children are urged to succeed against all odds. (DM)

This paper was written in anticipation of the International Conference on Indochinese Refugees (ICIR), held in June 1989 in Geneva (Switzerland). The ICIR was convened to respond to chronic refugee problems in the region, first addressed in the July 1979 Meeting in Geneva on the Situation of Refugees and Displaced Persons in Southeast Asia. It is…

Reviews the symptomatic characteristics of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), compares the cultural and clinical characteristics of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees (N=973) diagnosed with PTSD, and assesses the validity of PTSD across cultures. Outlines differences between groups and implications for effective treatment and further…

This study was conducted to determine the effects of the influx of 56,000 Indochinese refugees into Orange County, California between 1975 and 1982 and to make recommendations for integrating these people into the local labor force. In order to identify employer needs, characteristics of the refugee population, and the perceptions of both the…

Second language needs of Cambodian refugees sponsored by the Lutheran Social Services resettlement program in Jacksonville, Florida are reported. The study used observation, structured interviews, and periodic data collection to examine patterns of refugee interaction and to develop a profile of language needs for comparison with the program's…

Presents the age-sex structures of refugee populations arriving in the United States from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam from 1975 through 1986. Differences in the composition of these young populations reflect varying flight and resettlement experiences and changing factors influencing migration. High fertility rates predict a generation of rapid…