[Traumatic stress in adult refugees: when ill-health is silent or speaks broken Swedish].

It is well established that a significant proportion of refugees in Sweden have had traumatic experiences prior to immigration, causing mental and psychosomatic disorders. The actual frequency is difficult to assess because of methodological problems. Of refugees resettled in Stockholm county in 1996, 13 per cent were immediately referred to specialised trauma centres, thus comprising half of all referrals. Moreover, it has to be borne in mind that underdiagnosis is common in clinical practice. In the article, the relevance of accessible data, the clinical picture and epidemiological issues are discussed with regard to the refugee population.