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Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees

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Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World

Abstract

Refugees and displaced people are often victims of mental stress and psychological trauma that starts with facing the conditions causing them to leave their home countries, families, and loved ones and continues with the migration to a new host country and the complications of resettlement. The stress and anguish they face are often related to experiencing the atrocities of wars and persecutions. Financial difficulties further add to the trauma and increase the mental stress in refugees. Integrating into the new host country, facing linguistic and cultural barriers and challenges due to their unidentified legal status and with limited or no job opportunities, exacerbates stress levels of displaced people. Stigma of mental health issues further deteriorates their mental health. The living conditions of refugees, food insecurity, poor quality services and health, poverty, and suffering from sexual and gender-based violence increase the risk of mental health issues and psychological trauma. More welcoming interventions and practices can reduce mental stress of refugees, and providing them with rights and services can positively impact their mental health and psychosocial well-being. This chapter reviews the literature on the mental health and psychosocial well-being of refugees. The influx of refugees in host countries and the attitude of host nations integrating refugees are also reviewed. Mental health issues are related to poverty, marginalization, lack of access to education and health care, and poor community support. Inconsistent practices, policy gaps, restrictions on cross border movements, insufficient financial resources, poor coordination among governments, and lack of commitments are the main reasons associated with increased stress levels in refugees. Recommendations that can ease the lives of refugees are provided so that policy-makers can change conditions to improve the well-being of refugees.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management & MIS, College of Business Administration, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia

    Muhammad Ilyas

  2. Division of Dental Public Health, Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia

    Ammar Ahmed Siddiqui

  3. Division of Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Hail, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia

    Freah Alshammary

  4. College of Dentistry, University of Hail, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia

    Abdulmjeed Sadoon Al-Enizy

  5. Orthodontic Division, Preventive Dentistry Department, College of Dentistry, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia

    Mohammad Khursheed Alam

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  1. Muhammad Ilyas
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  2. Ammar Ahmed Siddiqui
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  3. Freah Alshammary
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  4. Abdulmjeed Sadoon Al-Enizy
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  5. Mohammad Khursheed Alam
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, University of British Colombia Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, VANCOUVER, BC, Canada

    Ismail Laher

Section Editor information

  1. Faculty of Health Science, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden

    Atika Khalaf

  2. Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy, University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dima M. Qato

  3. Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, USA

    Dima M. Qato

  4. Palestinian American Research Center Fellow 2013–2014, Washington, DC, USA

    Dima M. Qato

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Ilyas, M., Siddiqui, A.A., Alshammary, F., Al-Enizy, A.S., Alam, M.K. (2021). Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees. In: Laher, I. (eds) Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_14-1

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