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- Cetrez, Önver, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Resilience and Mental Health Risks among Syrian Refugees in Europe : A Cultural Perspective
- 2017
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Ingår i: ACTA PSYCHOPATHOLOGICA. - : OMICS Publishing Group. - 2469-6676. ; 5:5, s. 1-4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dated from 2011, the civil war in Syria has forced more than half of the Syrians to leave their home. This crisis is defined as the world's largest humanitarian tragedy since the World War II. Ransom and kidnap, rape, sexual slavery, brutal executions, disappearances, forced displacement have become regular part of the daily news from the region. As for today, the total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria has reached 12.2 million, approximately 7.6 million of whom are internally displaced; the largest number of internally displaced persons in any country in the world [1]. Refugees from Syria are now the largest refugee population in the world with more than four million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries and the larger region, such as Europe. The continuation of multi-sided armed conflict has lead to new cross-border movements of refugees each year, increasing the number of Syrians seeking protection in Europe [2-4].In response to the humanitarian needs, many EU countries have received applications from asylum seekers and refugees. The report of UNHCR in 2014 claims 562.680 asylum applications records in 38 European countries, which reflects an increase of 24% in comparison to the same period of 2013 [5,6]. The number of people applying for asylum in the European Union was more than doubled in 2015, reaching a record 1.26 million, according to the EU statistics agency. Syrians accounted for almost a third, with 362,775 people seeking shelter in Europe, followed by Afghans and Iraqis. Since 2016, rapid growth rate of the refugee population has been decelerating slightly [7,8].Eurostat [9] reports that the highest number of positive asylum decisions was recorded in Germany, followed by Sweden, France and Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands under the UN's humanitarian resettlement program. Those aforementioned states accounted for 81 % of the total number of acceptances issued in the EU-28 [9,10].In conjunction with their educational needs and possibility to work and settlement in the countries of migration, the health situation of the refugees is a large field of concern. A United Nations and Government of Syria joint assessment mission has specified mental health and psychosocial support as one of the most major concerns resulting from the current crisis [11]. In light of this unique set of challenges, there is an ongoing need for information on the mental health issues and culturally appropriate interventions not only for reducing symptoms of psychological distress but also for enhancing qualities of psychological and social wellbeing of this marginalized population. Hence, the specific objectives of the current paper are to: 1) provide basic information on the common mental health problems caused by the crisis; 2) discuss cultural issues in the conceptualizations of mental health problems, resilience enhancing practices and possible expectations about the appropriate healing strategies in order to promote mental health status and psychiatric care of Syrian refugees in Europe.
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