Introduction: This paper presents a study of traumatic experiences, including torture, among refugees and migrants at the border between Croatia and Bosnia. The number of people being forcefully displaced is increasing and militarized border enforcement efforts have made migration a dangerous endeavour. The European Union is externalizing its borders, but migrants and refugees have not ceased arriving in Western societies despite facing violence and torture both throughout their journey, and at the gates of Europe. Method: 54 participants were assessed, 51 males and 3 females, 26 were self-declared economic migrants and 28 stated that they fled due to political or religious persecution. The Iraqi version of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) was adapted to collect traumatic and torture stressors experienced by the migrants/refugees during their stay in Western Bosnia, and more specifically during their detention and refoulement (push-backs) when attempting to cross the border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Results: 98.14% reported experiencing multiple forms of torture, 81.5% reported having their property looted, and 70.4% stated that they had been physically harmed on the mentioned border during migratory transit. Torture experiences were associated with the migratory and confinement phases such as exposure to the rain and cold (92.6%) or lack of food, water and medical care (66.7%). Finally, 50% of participants fulfilled the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the cumulative effect of traumatic experiences. Differences were found only in the amount of traumatic experiences between economic migrants and refugees who fled for political or religious reasons. No differences were found in torture experiences and PTSD diagnosis. Conclusions: Violence perpetrated by security forces against migrants is crystallized at the border-zones. Migrants are held in conditions that would amount by themselves to torture. Traumatic experiences have an effect on migrants/refugees’ mental health and can trigger the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. Guaranteeing human rights for migrants/refugees throughout their journey is needed.
Quality of life has a global effect on society as a whole. The pragmatic study of quality of life allows to improve the conditions of mental health in a society, especially in those that are in a process of social, political, technological, and economic transformation (Cáliz et al., 2013). As Castañeda (2017) indicated, quality of life determines the level of mental health of a group through the evaluation of its impact Anuario de Psicología Jurídica (2021) xx xx-xx h t t p s : / / j o u r n a l s. c o p m a d r i d. o rg / a p j
The present article reviews the credibility analysis procedure proposed by the UNHCR through which asylum applications are resolved, especially for unaccompanied minors. The particularities of these refugee minors and the general character of the credibility analysis procedure are described. Credibility indicators are analyzed together with the psychological barriers related to them. This manuscript provides evidence of the presence of trauma and resilience in the studied minors and how both influence their memories during the asylum interviews. As credibility assessment has a special focus on the evaluation of narratives through memory, memory is considered as a criterion responsible for the accuracy and credibility of underage applicants’ testimony. Finally, this paper contributes with scientific psychological evidence towards the existence of multiple testimonies in asylum seekers.
The present study aims to analyse the effect of the passage of time on the phenomenological characteristics of the memory of a traumatic event of social relevance. The terrorist attack that took place in Barcelona (Spain) in August 2017 was taken as the traumatic event. A priori, this event meets the criteria to produce a flashbulb memory (level of surprise, consequentiality and emotional activation). A total of 364 memories from different individuals (78% women and a mean age of 20 years) were studied at five different time points, between September 2017 and December 2018, using the CCFRA/PQAM questionnaire. The results show that the memories only comply with the characteristics usually associated with flashbulb memories in the medium term (about 7 months after the events). These characteristics do not appear in a clear way immediately and are lost just over a year after the event. Therefore, the passage of time seems to have a great influence on the characteristics of memories of violent events, such as terrorist attacks. However, this influence may depend more on the relevance given to the event than on the elapsed time, as it is the relevance that determines the number of subsequent recalls, influencing the maintenance of the memory.
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