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Psychoanalysis in Social and Cultural Settings. Upheavals and Resilience by Sverre Varvin is a vital book on severe traumatization and the effects and mechanisms of human rights violations. It is relevant not only for clinicians working with traumatized individuals but also for a broader audience, including, for example, those in medical and social services, social sciences, and law. It also contains essential information and reflections for the general public and those in diplomatic and political positions within society. The book starts out with the question: ‘What happens when a person is exposed to cruelty in a social and political context that deem such acts as just and defendable’ (p. xi), i.e., what happens when a person is exposed to human rights violations? Furthermore, the book highlights refugees’ secondary traumatization when they have to leave their home, country, and social network, endure dangerous escapes, and start a new life in a new country, often while faced with suspicious attitudes, lengthy bureaucratic procedures, and inactivity, adding to the horrific and exposed situation. Indeed, the author emphasizes that many exiled people also face torture and degrading treatment during their flight, and that for many refugees and asylum seekers, the worst part of their refugee journey is actually after arriving in the host country.
A key take-home message is that, despite a high degree of resilience, the consequences for many refugees are devastating in their ongoing and ever-worsening situation in the present, as well as for generations to come. This fact calls for an international revision of the refugee system, the author concludes, and he points out that more money is spent on keeping refugees out than on providing safe, protective, and preventive conditions. A second important message is that the problems of the multiply traumatized person cannot be reduced to PTSD, which often happens when psychiatric, psychological, or medical perspectives oversha