Revisiting the temporal and spatial categorisation of ongoing mental harm/trauma within the refugee definition

Development summary

The article revisits how ongoing mental harm and trauma should be situated within the refugee definition in status determination. It argues that trauma such as PTSD may develop slowly and persist over time, yet is often treated as past harm or left outside the forward-looking logic used in refugee claims, and it proposes a non-dualist temporal reading that makes ongoing mental trauma visible within the refugee definition.