Date post: | 15-Dec-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | joe-powell |
View: | 214 times |
Download: | 0 times |
MENTAL HEALTH IN MN REFUGEE POPULATIONS
WHAT DO WE KNOW?
PREVALENCE
WHO: An average of more than 50% of refugees present mental health problems….
WHO: PTSD or depression 30-40% in post conflict populations Bulletin of WHO, Jan, 2005 83 (1)
CDC: 30-70% of people who have lived in war zones suffer from symptoms of post traumatic stress (PTSD) and depression
SPECIFIC POPULATIONS
Bhutanese refugees: 3 out of 4 have had PTSD at some point in life (Medicine, Conflict &Survival, 24 (2008) 5-15)
Karenni refugees: depression 42%, anxiety 41%, and PTSD 4.6% (Science &Medicine, 58 (2004) 2637–2644 )
Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Somali, Columbian, Salvadoran, Ethiopian, Angolan and Bangladeshi 8 years after exile: 50% PTSD (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 185 (1997)39-45
Burmese political exiles: 40% depression (American Journal of Public Health, 86 (1996)1561-69)See: An Annotated Bibliography on Refugee Mental Health,2005
www.refugeewellbeing.samhsa.gov
FAZEL, WHEELER AND DANISH
Prevalence of serious mental disorder in 7000 refugees resettled in western countries: a systematic review. The Lancet, (2005) Volume 365, Issue 9467, Pages 1309-131420
Depression: Estimated 8% of refugees
resettled in the United States had major depression Higher than the population rate and similar to the rate in primary
care patients in U.S
Anxiety 4% of the refugees were reported to have
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
9% adults were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder
44% of refugees with PTSD also had major depression
11% of 260 refugee children from three countries met criteria for PTSD
FINDINGS:
OTHER FINDINGS War trauma has been found to be highly
predictive of PTSD but not of depression ( Hsu et
al., 2004 Clinical Psychology Review, Volunte24, Issue 2 May 2004, Pages 193-213)
Refugees with a dx of PTSD and depression had higher rates of suicidal ideation than those with only PTSD but a lower rate of suicide attempts Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.96:108-117
PTSD in the absence of depression was more predictive of suicidal behavior than PTSD with depression The Lancet, Volume 365, Issue 9467, Pages 1309-1314
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MINNESOTA?
COLORADO MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING 9/30/99-6/30/01 2001
2001 PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS /MAY–JUNE 2005 /VOLUME 120
9.2% of adults screened positive for MH sxs
37% accepted MH services 63% did not
What would that look like in Minnesota? 9.2% = 147 refugees 55 would accept services
BARRIERS/DIFFICULTIES IN REFUGEE MH Help seeking Waiting lists Poor provider location Treatment population limitations
SPMI Admitted torture survivors
Psychotropic meds without psychoed or referral
Providers unwilling to work with interpreters Ethical and legal obligations of licensed providers
WHAT ARE OUR RESOURCES?
Eight months of health insurance Transportation Interpreter services
Specialty clinics: CUHCC Wilder SE Asian Program Center for Victims of Torture
County Mental Health Clinics, Rule 29 Clinics and private practitioners
Federal law requires that we see these clients if referred to us
BARRIERS: CULTURAL Lack of shared problem understanding
Professional focus: war trauma and PTSD Refugee focus: family separation and
unemployment as the cause of distress
Lack of understanding of presentation of suffering
“YOUR SOUL IS LIKE YOUR SHADOW. Sometimes it just wanders off like a butterfly
and that is when you are sad and that’s when you get sick and if it comes back to you that is when you are happy and you are well. Sometimes the soul goes away but the doctors don’t believe it…The doctors can fix some sicknesses that involve the body and blood but for us Hmong some people get
sick because of their soul so they need spiritual
healing.”
From: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
by Anne Fadiman
PRESENTATION OF SUFFERING
High levels of somatic presentation of distress
Idioms of distress Culturally specific experiences of suffering Not to be confused with mental illness
“While the distress experiences seen in diverse cultural groups sometimes signify the presence of physical or psychological disorders, they may also symbolically represent interpersonal and intra-psychic conflicts, or may be culturally coded ways of expressing social discontent” (Arnault, et.al., “Is there an Asian idiom of distress? Somatic Symptoms in Female Japanese and Korean Students. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. 2008 February ; 22(1): 27–38.)