[Psychosocial problems among refugees in Norway]. / Psykososiale problemer blant flyktninger i Norge.

172 patients were examined and treated by the Psychosocial Team for Refugees in Norway from 1 January 1986 to 15 November 1988. The patients came from 21 countries, the majority from Iran, Chile and Vietnam. Various reactive conditions dominated the clinical picture, and 53 patients had posttraumatic stress disorder, which was the most frequently occurring single diagnosis. The patient group had been exposed to a number of overwhelming experiences and at least half had been tortured. The therapists identified separation and loss, traumatic experiences and social isolation in exile as the factors of greatest importance for the development of the patients' conditions. 46% of the patients were found to have improved at the end of the treatment.

[Clinical experiences with refugees in need of treatment. Reflections on psychosocial problems of people living in exile]. / Klinisk erfaring med behandlingstrengende flyktninger. Refleksjoner omkring psykososiale problemer hos mennesker som lever i eksil.

In the light of experiences from the Psychosocial Team for Refugees in Norway, the authors describe factors of importance for understanding the personal meaning of the exile. We point to the implication of different traumatic events associated with flight and exile, and to the psychosocial consequence of such traumatization. We consider this to be important basic knowledge for doctors and other health workers engaged in preventive and curative work with refugees.

Short-term dynamic psychotherapy. I. The Oslo group's form to score outcome, the reliability testing of this form and observer characteristics.

The aim of short-term dynamic psychotherapy is, through working with a central conflict and transference reactions, to obtain lasting changes based on cognitive and emotional understanding of the main dynamics of the central conflict, called insight. The aim of the present study was to construct a follow-up form that was easy to handle, could score different outcome of short-term dynamic psychotherapy, as for instance symptom relief, change in social functioning and better insight, and was reliable. Sufficient reliability was established with a reliability coefficient between 0.756 and 0.564 for eight result variables. Percentage agreement was estimated in addition. As a total only 10% of the scores differed more than +/- 1 from a consensus score on a scale from zero, no change, to 7, recovered. The therapist was a reliable observer of his/her own patients. The sex of the observer did not influence percentage agreement. High-formal training in psychotherapy tended to give higher percentage of agreement compared to low-formal training.

Short-term dynamic psychotherapy. II. Prognostic value of characteristics of patients studied by a 2-year follow-up of 39 neurotic patients.

39 out-patients, 19 men and 20 women with a neurotic personality structure, evaluated by at least 2 therapists, were treated with short-term dynamic psychotherapy. 33 patients were followed up 2 years after the end of treatment with a semi-structured, problem-oriented interview, scored by 3 therapists according to a follow-up form developed for the study. Sufficient reliability was demonstrated for the follow-up form. 11 of 36 patients (31%), followed up 2 years after the end of treatment, obtained a high score on the dynamic result variable, and 24 (67%) on symptom relief. It could be established that these changes were mostly due to the therapy given. Variables pertaining patients' ability to relate to another person correlated with outcome. This is consistent with what Malan found in his two studies.