Exploring the Mental Health Effects of Political Trauma With Newly Arrived Refugees

Abstract

We explored the mental health effects of war trauma and torture as described by 111 refugees newly arrived in the United States. We used ethnocultural methodologies to inform 13 culture-specific focus groups with refugees from Bhutan (34), Burma (23), Ethiopia (27), and Somalia (27). Contrary to the belief that stigma prevents refugees from discussing mental health distress, participants readily described complex conceptualizations of degrees of mental health distress informed by political context, observation of symptoms, cultural idioms, and functional impairment. Recommendations for health care providers include assessment processes that inquire about symptoms in their political context, the degree of distress as it is culturally conceptualized, and its effect on functioning. Findings confirm the cross-cultural recognition of symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress disorder; however, refugees described significant cultural variation in expressions of distress, indicating the need for more research on culture-bound disorders and idioms of distress.

Beliefs and perception about mental health issues: a meta-synthesis

“…Dow5 identified shame and stigma as the reactions to social pressures whereas demands as a description and attribution of mental health issues. Furthermore, studies15,44,45 revealed the emotional, behavioral, and physical aspects of mental health issues and described mental health problems in all three areas. In the emotional domain, fear, guilt, anger, helplessness, pain, anxiety, and sadness were the major discussed features of mental anomalies.…”

“…Socioeconomic factors of poverty, lack of earning opportunities, unfulfilled basic and secondary needs,44 racial and ethnic discrimination,49 and economic injustice were also believed to be important factors resulting in mental health problems 45. Kolstad and Gjesvik46 explored the beliefs regarding causes of mental health and mostly revealed social factors including societal changes, adopting Western values, decrease in traditional values, and indigenous approaches of living a simple life.…”

Beyond Stigma: Barriers to Discussing Mental Health in Refugee Populations

“…These data are a subset of a larger participatory-action research project to develop culturally grounded mental health screening processes for newly arriving refugees (Shannon, Wieling, Becher, & Simmelink-McCleary, 2014). …”

Promoting male refugees’ mental health after they have been granted leave to remain (refugee status)

“…The need to explore this area is supported by the fact that the literature research studies of the mental health of refugees have concentrated mostly on the impact of past experience related to exposure to war, trauma and torture (e.g. Barrington and ShakespeareFinch, 2013;Isakson and Jurkovic, 2013;Shannon, Wieling, Simmerlink-McCleary and Becher 2015). Little is known about their specific needs after they have been granted Leave to Remain and how these may impact on their mental health.…”