Mental Health Utilization

Despite the severe psychological burden experienced by torture survivors, there is a scarcity of research on torture survivor’s mental health care utilization. In late 2015 we conducted a retrospective study to identify mental health services utilization by Libertas Center clients for the period 2009-2015. The data shows that 1) nearly 50% of Libertas clients received mental health services; 2) 93% of Libertas clients were diagnosed with either PTSD or Major Depression; 3) 34% of clients who did not report a primary mental health complaint still received mental health service; 4) the average duration of mental health treatment was nearly 100 days shorter for clients who had received asylum by the time the study was conducted.