Addressing Mental Health Concerns in Refugees and Displaced Populations: Is Enough Being Done?

Abstract

There are over 82.4 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, about a quarter of whom are resettling as refugees. In the wake of the global refugee crisis spurred by conflict, religious and political persecution, human rights violations, and climate disasters, a mental health has crisis followed. Not only does trauma experienced in home countries and as part of forced migration affect mental health, so too do post-migration traumatic events, discrimination, lack of access to quality and affordable healthcare and housing, and acculturation. To address mental health concerns in refugees and displaced populations, collective action is needed not only from health care providers but also from mental health researchers, funders, journals, resettlement agencies, government entities, and humanitarian organizations. The present review highlights the work of numerous scholars and organizations with the goal of understanding the mental health concerns of forcibly displaced persons within and across ecological systems. The present review seeks to bring attention to the experiences of forcibly displaced persons, summarize the growing body of research understanding the acute and chronic effects of forced displacement and possible interventions, and give a call to action for all members of the global community at every level to engage in joint efforts to improve mental health in refugees and displaced persons. Notably, there is a need for more interventions at the familial and community level that serve not only as treatment but also as prevention. Smartphone-based interventions, mind-body modalities, and interventions delivered by lay and non-clinician community members hold promise. Numerous strides could be made in refugee mental health and treatment when funding agencies include these goals in their research priorities. Despite the challenges they have faced, persons who resettle as refugees are incredibly resilient and deserve to be afforded every right, opportunity, dignity, and respect.

War-related stress scale

“…After the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine has been another crisis that can significantly affect people's mental health, especially if the stressors accumulate (see Bai et al, 2022;Jawaid et al, 2022;Grasser, 2022;Bragiel & Gambin, 2022;Moshagen & Hilbig, 2022). For a better understanding of the relationship between war and mental health, it is important to have adequate measures that can capture the different aspects of a military conflict as accurately as possible.…”

“…Correlations of the factors (three-factor model) and the total score (short-form model) from the respective exploratory and confirmatory datasets are available in Table 3 and Table 4 [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]…”

Mindful self-care, coping, and meaning in life: An examination of the professional quality of life and well-being among individuals who support and provide services to refugees.

“…The lived experiences of refugees are unique because they have an increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety due to the traumatic events they experience before, during, and after exile, which often include stressors adjusting to a new country and acculturation stress (Brooks, 2019; Schweitzer et al, 2007; Ventriglio et al, 2017). Some of these stressors and traumatic experiences refugees face include separation from family members, malnutrition, food insecurity, lack of shelter, infectious diseases, and exposure to environmental toxins (Grasser, 2022; Gushulak & MacPherson, 2006; Polonsky et al, 2013). Further, refugees often face postmigratory stressors including stress related to gaining visas and establishing residency in a new country, changes in family structure and family roles, loss of culture and social support, difficulties with communication and learning a new language, and discrimination (Carlsson & Sonne, 2018).…”

The fear that remains: Associations between trauma, related psychopathology, and fear‐potentiated startle in youth resettled as refugees

“…While some studies have investigated differences in extinction learning among youth exposed to trauma, youth with anxiety disorders, and healthy youth, none have specifically looked at extinction learning in youth with PTSD nor has FPS more specifically been broadly examined within trauma‐exposed pediatric cohorts. Syrian refugee youth represent a widely understudied population which merits investigation (Grasser, 2022). Identifying potential biomarkers of trauma‐related symptoms may be especially important when working with immigrant and refugee communities (Javanbakht & Grasser, 2022), where verbal presentation of symptoms may differ based on cultural norms and a potential language barrier.…”