Iraqi Refugees and the Psychosocial Effects of War

Iraqi Refugees
and the Psychosocial Effects of War

with guest speaker
Dr. Baher Butti, faculty OHSU School of Medicine

Please join us for the presentation, which will be followed by a Q&A and discussion.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
11:30 am –12:30 pm
Following the 10:00 service.    All are welcome to attend!

Cedar Hills United Church of Christ
11695 SW Park Way Portland, Oregon
(Corner of Cedar Hills Blvd and SW Park Way)

Dr. Baher Butti, formerly the chief psychiatrist at a mental health clinic in Baghdad,  is now an Iraqi refugee and faculty member at the OHSU School of Medicine and a counselor at the Intercultural Psychiatric Program where he treats refugees who suffer from the effects of wartime trauma.  He moved to Portland in 2007 from the Iraqi refugee community in Jordan where his family still resides.  He is an accomplished writer and speaker on a wide range of topics, including women's mental health, conflict resolution, human rights, Iraqi history and politics, and the social development of the Iraqi community.  Dr. Butti is a member of the Iraqi Minorities Council.  As an Iraqi Christian, he understands first-hand the discrimination against minorities in Iraq.

Dr. Butti will describe the responses of Iraqis to a combination of factors related to the U.S. occupation, including sectarian and ethnic conflicts, criminal activity, unpredictable eruptions of violence to individuals and the infrastructure, and the breakdown of basic services.  He will also include a discussion of the crises of Iraqi refugees displaced both within their country and to surrounding countries such as Jordan, Syria, and Egypt.
Dr. Butti has been interviewed by the BBC, NPR, and The New Yorker.