ABSTRACT
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), as of early 1998 there were 22,376,300 refugees, asylum seekers, returnees and persons displaced within their own countries. The refugee experience, particularly in the early stages, can be characterized by extreme loss and pain. Renos K. Papadopoulos & J. Hildebrand argue that have not yet developed a model to normalize the suffering due to war and, inevitably, this leads to formulate the refugee experience within the context of pathology and a deficit paradigm. Two fieldwork locations were used in Greece and one in the UK. Greece represented the experience of early exile: days or weeks after arrival. The implications of different experiences for male and female refugees in transition may contribute to the evident strains on couple relationships, noted by support organizations in the later phases.
