A NARRATIVE EXPOSURE TREATMENT AS INTERVENTION IN A REFUGEE CAMP: A CASE REPORT

We applied Narrative Exposure Treatment (NET) to a severely traumatized Kosovar refugee living in a Macedonian refugee camp during the Balkan War. NET is a pragmatic short-term approach that integrates effective therapeutic components deriving from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Testimony Therapy. Outcome was evaluated by clinical examination and the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS). Three sessions of NET were enough to afford considerable relief, although some PTSD symptoms remained. Our experience indicates that Narrative Exposure is a promising and realistic approach for the treatment of even severely traumatized refugees living in camps. In addition, it can prove valid testimonies about human rights violations without humiliating the witness.

Kosovar Refugee Assessments in Montenegro and A1bania

Following NATO bombings on the 24th of March 1999, Serbian armed forces provoked a massive population exodus of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo, an autonomous province of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In June 1999, UNHCR reparted that 600,000 Kosovars had found refuge in neighbouring countries. ln order to assess the situation of Kosovar refugees, two surveys were carried out in Rozaje, Republic of Montenegro, and in Kukes, Albania, in April 1999. The main goal was to assess human rights violations. This paper describes the results of these surveys.