Søren Buus Jensen

Testimony as ritual and evidence in psychotherapy for political refugees

Testimony as a ritual both of healing and of condemnation of injustice would seem to be a universal phenomenon. The concept of testimony contains both connotations of something subjective or private, and of something objective, judicial, or political. When political refugees give testimony to the torture to which they have been subjected, the trauma story can be given a meaning, can be reframed: private pain is transformed into political dignity. In the context of testimony, shame, and guilt connected with the trauma can be confessed by the victim and reframed. In the transcultural meeting between the political refugee and the Western therapist, the common goal of creating evidence against repression becomes both a meeting place and a joint point of departure. The testimony method is demonstrated by two case histories.

Sexual Function and Somatopsychic Reactions in Vulvectomy-Operated Women and their Partners

Sexual function and somatopsychic reactions were examined in 25 women following vulvectomy and in 15 of their partners. More than half of the women had both sexual dysfunction and psychological problems. Their partners had no sexual dysfunction but almost half had psychological problems. An important reason for this seems to be insufficient information and advice both pre‐ and postope‐ratively and failure to recognize a developing stricture of the introitus vaginae. Frequent control and advice to both partners both pre‐ and postoperatively is desirable. Less extensive surgical procedures in selected cases should be considered.

Sexual Relationships in Couples with a Diabetic Partner

This study assessed the quality of the sexual relationship in 51 couples that included a Type I diabetic partner (23 male and 28 female). Using traditional diagnostic criteria, the frequencies of sexual dysfunction was higher in diabetic than in healthy men, as in previous studies. Diagnosis based on a multiaxial system showed that both male and female diabetics had more arousal phase dysfunctions than did healthy spouses. Diabetics and healthy spouses were similar in terms of sexual initiative and discrepancies between sexual desire and activity levels. Although peripheral neuropathy was correlated with sexual dysfunction in diabetic men, a stronger predictive factor was a rating of the couples acceptance of the diabetes. Nevertheless sexual dysfunction was blamed on the diabetes by 22 of 23 couples who had a sexual problem.

Brief sexual counseling for medical patients: A workshop for training professionals

Most sexual concerns and dysfunctions in medical patients are unrecognized because neither patient nor health care team addresses the issue. A 5-day workshop is presented in detail so that clinicians specializing in treating sexual problems can educate primary care professionals in assessing sexual problems and providing brief sexual counseling. Suggestions for truncating the workshop or tailoring it to specific audiences are also included.

Couples in Exile: Political consciousness as an element in the psychosexual dynamics of a Latin American refugee couple

Abstract Estimates show that a large number of Latin American refugees are divorced in exile. Presumably, the family system has difficulty adapting to the sudden change in its ecology. Both the social and personal creative identity are threatened in exile, and therapeutic help must therefore be offered both at the individual and social level. One important tool for the couples survival is the consciousness of why they are in exile In this case-study of a Latin American couple with psychosexual problems, we seek to reframe their ‘private pain’ in a political context. Both the individual, and the joint, collective trauma they have suffered are seen in the context of their individual resources and their resources for interaction with others for a common goal: their collective resources. It is apparent, in the dynamics of this couple, that the wife needs to strengthen her collective resources, which for her means becoming involved in political and social activities of the exile group We find that the concept...

Traume, møde og mening

Agger, I. & Jensen, S.B. (1989). Trauma, meeting and meaning—significant concepts in transcultural psychotherapy for political refugees. Nordisk Psykologi, 41, 177–192. Organized violence poses Western clinicians with fundamental questions concerning the problem of meaning. The number of political refugees in Western countries, although relatively few on a world-wide scale, have forced clinicians to confront one of the manifestations of organized violence: The trauma of torture. In torture, feelings of panic anxiety and deep shame are elicited in the victim, who thus privatizes an act which in its origin is social and political. Symptoms following this trauma can, although with reservations, be understood in the context of Traumatic Stress Theory and treated in accordance with principles in Post-Traumatic Therapy (PTT). In the meeting between the Western clinician and the political refugee many clinicians have explained their personal counter- transference reactions to the horror of torture, and the socia...

Behandling af traumatiserede flygtninge med følger efter seksuel tortur: Et biopsykosocialt perspektiv

Many of the political refugees who have arrived in Denmark during the past decade have psychosomatic symptoms related to experiences of sexual torture during imprisonment. On the basis of clinical experience from treatment of traumatized refugees, the authors suggest a biopsychosocial approach to symptoms. This implies that therapists respect the symptoms presented by the refugees as a prerequisite for establishing contact and alliance, wherein also the ideology of both therapist and refugee plays an important part. In this context a re-framing of the symptoms can begin. It is demonstrated how sexual torture can affect the refugee by creating strong feelings of guilt and shame, which implies that the prisoner has experienced the torture as an individual act of humiliation. In the refraining of these traumatic experiences the ideologic consciousness of the refugee is an important element enabling the therapist to establish a frame of reference in which the sexual torture can be seen as a political weapon a...