Specific treatments are effective in cases of post-traumatic stress disorder

EDITOR—Burnett and Peel described the social and family background regarding asylum seekers and refugees in Britain. 1 2 Unfortunately their articles make many confusing generalisations and have several inaccuracies regarding mental health.

Burnett and Peel say that the most therapeutic event for a child can be to become part of the local school community.2 Everybody would agree that schools can promote children's psychological development, but it is important to bear in mind the higher rate of psychiatric disorder in refugee children than in their peers. Even among refugee children who had largely not been exposed to war the rate of psychiatric disorder was found to be almost twice as high as among peers of the same age.3 It is likely to be even …