Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, One Bowdoin Square, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. devon_hinton@hms.harvard.edu.
2 papers in the library · 55 citations · publishing 2011-2020
Anger is common among Cambodian refugees, often triggered by marital discord and leading to verbal and physical violence and sometimes suicidality. Buddhist monks in Massachusetts identify Buddhist-based anger management strategies, including education about Buddhist doctrines, mindfulness meditation, and the use of herbal medication and holy water, as useful interventions. These approaches are discussed in relation to Buddhist beliefs and Western psychological treatments.
Among Cambodian refugees at a psychiatric clinic, ghost encounters are a central part of how trauma is experienced and expressed. Fifty-four percent of patients had been bothered by ghost encounters in the past month. The severity of being bothered by ghosts was strongly correlated with PTSD severity. Among those bothered by ghosts, 85.2% had PTSD, compared to 15.4% of those not bothered, an odds ratio of 31.8. Ghost visitations occurred in three states of consciousness: during full sleep (dreams), hypnagogia (sleep paralysis or hallucinations while falling asleep or waking), and full waking (hallucinations, visual aura, chills, or leg cramps).