ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Ali's case to consider how a focus on experience bridges different dimensions of displacement and mental health. Iraqi refugees fled to Egypt as part of a regional process of forced migration that followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the sectarian violence and unrest that followed. Research on the mental health of Iraqi refugees in exile has generally shown higher rates of mental health problems than among non-conflict-affected populations. Egypt is host to one of the largest urban refugee populations in the world. Displacement is arguably a greater global concern now than ever. In the rapidly growing field of global mental health, mental illness and care in complex emergencies is of increasing concern. Trauma-focused approaches have most often been associated with large, epi-demiological studies that use Western psychological measures of PTSD to evaluate the mental health of refugee and other displaced populations.
