Refugee patients and the practice of deception

The example of an Amerasian Vietnamese case study is used to illustrate the complex and interactive effects of refugee status, diverse cultural traditions, and traumatic life events on refugee patients' willingness and ability to share the details of their lives and to enter wholeheartedly into the diagnostic and therapeutic process. Ways in which clinicians working with such patients can increase the accuracy of their database and further the development of a therapeutic alliance are discussed.