Bognor, D.; (2005) What prevents refugees and asylum seekers exposed to violence from disclosing trauma? Doctoral thesis , University of London.

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Abstract

This review aims to explore the factors surrounding asylum seekers' disclosure during Home Office interviews and places particular emphasis on the role of shame in trauma and disclosure. It starts with an overview of the UK immigration system. Asylum seekers undergo one or more interviews by the Home Office as part of the process of claiming asylum. Many find it hard to disclose personal information during these interviews, but the reasons for this are largely undocumented. Section two will further explore the phenomenon of disclosure and the potential factors involved by reviewing the literature on patient disclosure in psychological therapy. Part three will look at the psychological impact of trauma in refugees. Refugees have by definition been subjected to persecution and many have been subjected to torture and organised violence in their home countries. This puts them at a higher risk of psychological difficulties. Evidence from the empirical literature will be reviewed. The last section provides an overview of the shame literature and focuses particularly on the role of shame in disclosure and psychopathology. The review concludes with recommendations for future research and for interviewing people in a variety of settings, proposing that the process of revealing personal information can be experienced as deeply shaming and thus impact negatively on disclosure. The implications of this for the asylum process will be discussed.

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