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Studies on group treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in asylum seekers and refugees are scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of three different trauma-focused day-treatment group programs for treatment of PTSD in male asylum seekers and refugees. Three treatment groups (n = 56) and a waitlisted control group (n = 16) of help-seeking Iranian and Afghani patients were assessed with a set of self-rated symptom checklists for PTSD, anxiety, depression, and psychoticism 1 week before and 2 weeks after treatment. There are no indications that the 2 days' group program with three nonverbal and two group psychotherapy sessions per week is less effective in reducing symptoms than the program with the same amount of sessions spread over 3 days per week. The trauma-focused day-treatment group seems a promising approach for treatment of PTSD among asylum seekers and refugees in industrialized settings.

In this study, treatment results of three different trauma-focus group day-treatment programs for asylum seekers and refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), were compared with a supportive outpatient psychotherapy group, and a waiting list control group. The group programs differed in the number of nonverbal therapy sessions combined with group psychotherapy and in the number of treatment days per week that the programs were executed. The results suggest that trauma-focus day-treatment groups lead to a significant decrease of psychopathology compared with the outpatient supportive group psychotherapy and the control group. Within the day-treatment programs, the more nonverbal treatment sessions are applied in a week time, the better the results. Equal treatment effects were obtained with the same number of sessions per week applied over 2 and over 3 days.

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of psychosocial stressors and demographic factors on psychopathology in asylum seekers and refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prior to participation in the Den Bosch model for group treatment, as well as to explore their influence on the treatment results. The results showed no significant differences in the mean levels of psychopathology between asylum seekers and refugees prior to treatment. There were no differences found in treatment outcomes between the two groups. Living conditions do not influence either the mean levels of psychopathology prior to treatment or the treatment effects in our sample. The participants who are living separated from their families and/or who are single show the same levels of PTSD and depressive complaints prior to and post treatment compared with participants living together with family members. Ongoing psychosocial stressors in the course of treatment had no impact on treatment outcomes. Torture survivors, war victims, and a torture/war group profited equally from group treatment effectiveness. The results suggest that the effects of group therapy with asylum seekers and refugees according to the Den Bosch model are not impacted by demographic characteristics of the participants.