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Abstract
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The article explores the effectiveness of the use of an empowerment workshop, called Free to Grow (FTG), in the treatment of a group of torture survivors who had shown great reluctance to enter into psychotherapeutic interventions.
Research into the effectiveness of the method is carried out using a series of tests measuring changes in empowerment, depression, anxiety and multiple operational definitions of health. Participants were also asked for feedback in an unstructured self-report upon completion of the workshop. In addition, an exit interview was conducted after follow-up, five months after the first workshop session.
Certain trends could be detected in spite of the small numbers of participants (11) and incomplete questionnaires. According to most of the measures used, the intervention proved to have a positive sustained impact.
At the exit interview all of the participants acknowledged experiencing increased levels of introspection and self-awareness, as well as having undergone a degree of growth and positive change. This resulted in many of them becoming more able to enter more mainstream psychotherapeutic interventions to deal with remaining psychological and interpersonal problems.
Key words: torture survivors, psychotherapy, PTSD.
Language: en |