The mental health of earth's most travelled humans - Migrants & Mental Health
The current status of the world as a global village has seen a lot of people migrating from their country to another country generally in search of greener pastures. Other reasons for migration could include official duty, asylum seeking and tourism amongst others.
A person seeking asylum is someone who has had to run away from their own country and appeals to the government of a different country to protect them. There are a number of reasons that a person may seek asylum in a different country, but the most often reasons are to escape persecution or violence, violations of human rights or natural/manmade disasters. The persecution they are facing can be due to their religion, race, social group membership or gender.
When a government accepts the claim of a person who is seeking for asylum, the person is referred to as a refugee. In recent times, a lot of asylum seekers have been moving from Sudan and the Middle East to other countries including Australia, due to the high rates of violence and persecution in some of these countries.
These asylum seekers however come along with a lot of attendant problem for the countries they are coming into if proper measures are not put in place. Countries that are accepting asylum seekers need to ascertain both the physical and mental health status of the asylum seekers. Those who are forced to flee their home countries often have poor mental health for a wide variety of reasons. The previous trauma associated with the cause for them leaving their own country, as well as having to start a new life in an unfamiliar country would probably have a large negative impact on anyone’s mental health.
Looking at previous experiences, the asylum seekers are leaving their previous country as a result of being displaced or due to violence and terrorism. This implies that they have suffered famine, war, persecution and even torture in some cases in their previous country of residence. They could also have suffered from stress due to family separations.
The long time some countries including Australia take in attending to refugee claims of asylum seekers could also lead to mental disorders among this vulnerable group. In most cases, the asylum seekers are detained which results in a further negative impact on their mental health status. They are also affected by the stress of worrying about a future that is not certain. A lot of asylum seekers may have been profitably employed in their previous area of residence before they were displaced. They probably had a house, a family, and a car, however, once they made the choice to seek asylum in another country, they have lost some or all of these as they only have their family in the event that they have not being separated or killed. This stress could lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the asylum seekers, compounding on the factors already affecting their mental health status.
Some individuals also find it difficult adapting to change. A refugee status in Australia and other countries would entail adapting to a new society. There could also be language barriers as they might not be able to speak or understand English properly. In few cases, they might not even have knowledge about any English words. They might also become victims of racism while trying to adapt to their new lifestyle and location and in the event of any crisis, they might become victims of xenophobia.
These are the worries of many asylum seekers and refugees which can have serious negative impacts on their mental wellbeing. The mental health status of asylum seekers and refugees should thus be checked regularly and treated appropriately as they are, as a group, incredibly susceptible to a wide variety of factors which can negatively impact mental health.