Some refugees who survive wars recover and thrive; others do not. This study sets out to discover what successful survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime found instrumental for both their survival and their mental health. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of resilience, here understood as the ability to recover from misfortune or change, in order to contribute to the psychosocial rehabilitation of survivors of war crimes and other traumatic events - to discover how war-refugees may be best assisted in processes of recovery and normalisation. The resilience found here was based largely...

The Nordic welfare societies have been described as 'beacons of light' in work with refugees, with their emphasis on egalitarian and extensive benefit levels, wealth redistribution, promotion of gender equality and maximisation of labour force participation. Members of the population benefit from free education, universal healthcare and public services that provide an elaborate social safety net. The conditions seem favourable for refugees exposed to severely traumatic events in countries of origin and in flight who have come to rest in the safe havens of the Nordic countries. But has society...