The Mental Health of War-Wounded Refugees: An 8-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

The complex nature of recent wars and armed conflicts has forced many war-injured persons into exile. To investigate their long-term mental health, three instruments for assessing mental health (HSCL-25, PTSS-10, and a Well-Being scale) were presented to 44 war-wounded refugees from nine different countries 8 years after arrival in Sweden. The prevalence of psychiatric symptoms was high and corresponds to findings in previous studies of refugee patient populations. A lower level of mental health was associated with higher education, unemployment, and poor physical health. The findings suggest a high psychiatric morbidity and a need for psychiatric interventions in this refugee group. Methodological issues to be considered in research on sequels of war traumas are discussed.

Ten years after the genocide: Trauma confrontation and posttraumatic stress in Rwandan adolescents

“…Some studies have investigated the long-term aftereffects of war on the mental health of civilians (Amir & Lev-Wiesel, 2003;Hermansson, Timpka, & Thyberg, 2002;Teegen & Meister, 2000). These studies consistently show that the psychological impact on civilians who have suffered war-related traumatic events may linger for many years.…”

Mental Health of Immigrants and Refugees

“…These disorders have been correlated to exposure and proximity to pre-migration and post-migration traumatizing events (Fenta, Yman, & Noh, 2004). Other risk factors that affect the degree of symptomatology and impairment include poverty, education, subsequent unemployment, low self-esteem, and poor physical health (Hermansson et al, 2002;Hsu, Davies, & Hansen, 2004;Weine et al, 2000). Culture-bound illness expression, culture-bound syndromes, and cultural bereavement in response to the stresses encountered from the acculturation process also need to be considered as significant entities that can resemble but are distinct from Western-oriented psychiatric symptoms and disorders (Davis, 2000;Hsu, 1999).…”

Estigma y salud mental en personas víctimas del conflicto armado interno colombiano en situación de desplazamiento forzado

“…Aunque en otros contextos se observa alta prevalencia de trastornos mentales en personas en situación de desplazamiento tras un conflicto armado [41][42][43][44]9,[45][46][47] , en Colombia es alta la frecuencia de síntomas en este grupo de personas; no obstante, los pocos estudios indican que con el uso de evaluaciones estructuradas la frecuencia de trastornos mentales se reduce de manera importante 10 , de tal suerte que los profesionales de la psiquiatría deben tener presente que se abre la posibilidad de revictimización a través de la medicalización de las emociones de la vida cotidiana y el sufrimiento de las VCAISD sin que cumplan formalmente criterios de trastorno mental 7,17,48 . Esto implica que en las VCAISD la evaluación de síntomas debe ser extremadamente rigurosa y el cumplimiento de cada criterio debe ser total para evitar el sobrediagnóstico [49][50][51] , en particular de los relacionados con el complejo estigma-discriminación en salud mental 43,44,9,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] .…”