ReviewSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2014
Somatization in refugees: a review.
Review in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 212 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of integrated physical and psychological interventions on PTSD among forcibly displaced persons: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Cultural Adaptations, Efficacy, and Acceptability of Psychological Interventions for Mental Health in Adults with Refugees and Asylum-Seeker Status: A Systematic Review.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2024Pooled it
- Systematic review on somatization in a transcultural context among teenagers and young adults: Focus on the nosography blur.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Epidemiology and organisation of care in medically unexplained symptoms: A systematic review with a focus on cultural diversity and migrants.International journal of clinical practice · 2021Pooled it
- Efficacy of Psychological Interventions on Depression Anxiety and Somatization in Migrants: A Meta-analysis.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2020Pooled it
- Prevalence of mental disorders in young refugees and asylum seekers in European Countries: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Lay-Led Intervention for War and Refugee Trauma: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- How alexithymia impacts the association between interpersonal trauma and somatization.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Psychological difficulties in refugee adolescents with war-related experiences and forced displacement: a community-based comparison with non-refugee peers.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Disease spectrum and medical complaints among migrants: a study from three outpatient clinics for asylum seekers in Berlin, Germany.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Lower right insular thickness is associated with more severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among Ukrainian refugees.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Mentalization in Asylum Seekers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Article
- The Body as a Vessel for Trauma: The Clinical Case Study of Aisha.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Somatic symptom and related disorders in the Arab world: a narrative review of clinical features and care implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- "We cannot live like Canadian": Yazidi refugees' perspectives on mental health, coping strategies and barriers to care.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Relationship between traumatic events, somatization, psychological distress, and quality of life in female refugees in Germany.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- A qualitative study of cultural concepts of distress among Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.Conflict and health · 2024Article
- Article
- Sociodemographic Characteristics and Mental and Physical Health Diagnoses of Yazidi Refugees Who Survived the Daesh Genocide and Resettled in Canada.JAMA network open · 2023Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo present a review of the literature concerning medically unexplained physical symptoms in refugees.
methodsWe outline a variety of definitions and explanations of somatization, as well as the role of culture in the concept of disease. In addition, we present a review of the epidemiological literature about somatization in refugees.
resultsRefugees from non-Western countries exhibit more unexplained somatic symptoms than the general Western population. Although different studies have employed different methodologies and are therefore difficult to compare, it can be concluded that refugees form a particular population in which somatization is prominent.
conclusionsPotential, not mutually exclusive, explanations of the high number of somatic symptoms in the refugee population include general psychopathology, specifically traumatisation, results of torture, and stigmatisation of psychiatric care. There are implications for assessment, clinical treatment and further research concerning somatization in refugees.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.