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Introduction
In the early 1990s, approximately 100,000 refugees belonging primarily to the Nepali-speaking minority group Lhotshampa fled from Bhutan to Nepal to avoid religious and ethnic persecution ([11] Hutt, 2003; [9] Evans, 2010). There, Bhutanese refugees languished in camps through 15 years of failed multi-lateral negotiations until, in 2007, several developed nations agreed to support resettlement. Today, the Bhutanese refugee camps are the hub of the largest resettlement operation in the world. At the time of study, roughly 60,000 refugees had been resettled and 50,000 remained in the camps, the majority of whom were hoping to resettle ([30] UNHCR, 2012).
Previous research has revealed considerable psychiatric vulnerability among Bhutanese refugees, with some figures suggesting that over half the camp population experiences lifetime disorder ([19] Mills et al. , 2008; [31] Van Ommeren et al. , 2001a). Somatic complaints, high rates of disability ([28] Thapa et al. , 2003; [34] Van Ommeren et al. , 2002), and medically unexplained epidemics ([32] Van Ommeren et al. , 2001b) have also been associated with psychiatric morbidity among Bhutanese refugees.
The resettlement option presents both great opportunity for healing and a unique and understudied set of stressors that have been linked with rising suicide rates, including family conflict and the degradation of both formal and informal social networks ([18] Kohrt et al. , 2012; [25] Schinina et al. , 2011; [1] Ao et al. , 2012). While the emergence of a durable solution for Bhutanese refugees is undoubtedly favorable, the extreme sociocultural flux it entails in a context of heightened psychiatric vulnerability warrants an examination of cultural and community resources for coping with distress, including preferred coping strategies[1] .
Previous ethnopsychological research on Nepali-speaking populations has contributed greatly to our understanding of distress, trauma, stigma, help-seeking, and applications of psychotherapy among Bhutanese refugees ([15] Kohrt and Harper, 2008; [16] Kohrt and Hruschka, 2010; [18] Kohrt et al. , 2012). However, gaps remain in the recent literature on coping strategies that may function as mediators of morbidity in the face of adversity. One study found that relationships do exist between coping, specifically the use of "negative" coping strategies (e.g. blaming oneself, drinking alcohol) and psychiatric symptoms ([8] Emmelkamp et al. , 2002). However, the sample was limited to torture...