Refugee Stress and Folk Belief: Hmong Sudden Deaths

This selection argues that mortal harm can come from the displacement of an explanatory model from one behavioral environment to another (see also selection 26). Adler’s analysis of the mass relocation of Hmong refugees from Laos to the United States highlights the psychophysical stress experienced by people living under conditions of extreme insecurity and violence who flee to new locations with new sources of anxiety and uncertainty (see also selection 33). The sudden death of seemingly healthy people provides an extreme illustration of the nocebo effect, or the power of belief to cause disease and death, not just healing (see Hahn 1997; selections 27, 28, 30).