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Although various scholars acknowledge the presence of distrust among refugees who are survivors of war and torture, and the negative effects of this distrust on interactions with helping professionals, little is known about trust building. Drawing on the theoretical insights of the symbolic interactionist perspective, I contend that the survivor of war and torture, in determining the trustworthiness of the professional, collects and interprets interactional cues along three interrelated parameters: self-concept, perceived self (i.e., what the survivor believes the professional thinks of him or her), and definition of the professional as a significant other.