Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:20:23.801Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees – challenges and solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Piyal Sen
Piyal Sen*
Affiliation:
Complex Needs Service, St Andrew's, Essex, UK Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK, email psen@standrew.co.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Global events like wars and natural disasters have led to the refugee population reaching numbers not seen since the Second World War. Attitudes to asylum have hardened, with the potential to compromise the mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees. The challenges in providing mental healthcare for asylum seekers and refugees include working with the uncertainties of immigration status and cultural differences. Ways to meet the challenges include cultural competency training, availability of interpreters and cultural brokers as well as appropriately adapting modes of therapy. Service delivery should support adjustment to life in a foreign country. Never has the need been greater for psychiatrists to play a leadership role in the area.

Type
Thematic Paper
Information
BJPsych International , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , May 2016 , pp. 30 - 32
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016

References

Bhugra, D., Gupta, S., Schouler-Ocak, M., et al (2014) EPA guidance: mental health care of migrants. European Psychiatry, 29, 107–115.Google Scholar
Colucci, E., Szwarc, J., Minas, H., et al (2014) The utilisation of mental health services by children and young people from a refugee background: a systematic review. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 7, 86–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazel, M., Wheeler, J. & Danesh, J. (2005) Prevalence of serious mental disorder in 7000 refugees resettled in Western countries: a systematic review. Lancet, 365, 1309–1314.Google Scholar
Nazzal, K. H., Forghany, M., Geevarughese, M. C., et al (2014) An innovative community-oriented approach to prevention and early intervention with refugees in the United States. Psychological Services, 11, 477–485.Google Scholar
Patel, N., Kellezi, B. & Williams, A. C. D. C. (2014) Psychological, social and welfare interventions for psychological health and well-being of torture survivors. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 11, CD009317 (doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009317.pub2).Google Scholar
Patel, V., Boardman, J., Prince, M., et al (2006) Returning the debt: how rich countries can invest in mental health capacity in developing countries. World Psychiatry, 5, 67–70.Google Scholar
Robjant, K., Hassan, R. & Katona, C. (2009) Mental health implications of detaining asylum seekers: systematic review. British Journal of Psychiatry, 194, 306–312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sen, P., Exworthy, T. & Forrester, A. (2014) Mental health care for foreign national prisoners in England and Wales. Journal of Mental Health, 23, 333–339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Summerfield, D. (2001) Asylum-seekers, refugees and mental health services in the UK. Psychiatric Bulletin, 25, 161–163.Google Scholar
United Nations (2016) Refugees: Numbers (Resources for Speakers on Global Issues). United Nations. Available at http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefngpapers/refugees/index.shtml (accessed 7 January 2016).Google Scholar
Vostanis, P. (2014) Meeting the mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers. British Journal of Psychiatry, 204, 176–177.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.