Mental Condition

Painting by asylum seeker

Refugees often experience traumatic events and adverse situations before during and after settlement, such as:

• Sexual violence 
• Genocide
• Torture 
• Political persecution 
• The loss of loved ones
• Forced child soldiering
• loss of family and social supports (particularly for women after childbirth)
• Unemployment 
• Lack of recognition of professional qualifications 
• Language barriers
• Isolation from others of a similar cultural background

The more common mental health diagnoses associated with refugee populations include:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Major depression 
• Generalised anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Adjustment disorder
• Somatisation

The refugee experience is divided into three categories: 

• preflight
• Flight
• Resettlement

 

The preflight phase 

• physical and emotional trauma to the individual or family, the witnessing of murder, and social upheaval.
• Adolescents may also have participated in violence, voluntarily or not, as child soldiers or militants.

Flight 

• Involves an uncertain journey from the host country to the resettlement site and may involve arduous travel, refugee camps, and or detention centers. 
• Children and adolescents are often separated from their families and at the mercy of others for care and protection.

The resettlement process 

• Includes challenges such as the loss of culture, community, and language as well as the need to adapt to a new and foreign environment. 
• Children often straddle the old and new cultures as they learn new languages and cultural norms more quickly than their elders.