Intermediated communication by interpreters in psychotherapy with traumatized refugees

Abstract

Immigrants in need of psychotherapy are often confronted with the fact that there is no psychotherapist available with whom they can proceed in a common language understood well by both. In some cases psychotherapy with communication intermediated by interpreters is offered. This study compares the outcome of 190 individual psychotherapies with refugees with post-traumatic disorders, half of them with the help of interpreters, the other half without. The results show that psychotherapies with the help of interpreters were as effective as those without, even though the psychosocial conditions (such as employment, training, foreign language proficiency and social network) for those patients who needed interpreters were tougher. We conclude that psychotherapy with the help of an interpreter should not be considered the poorer alternative.

Keywords:

• interpreters
• immigrants
• psychotherapy
• refugees

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the patients and interpreters who participated in the study.