Mental Health across the Refugee Journey

S. Nikeaateghad (University of Essex), C. Ferstman (University of Essex), G.S. Gilbert (University of Essex) and R.R. Luthra (University of Essex)

The trauma of forced displacement starts from the moment the person seeking asylum decides to flee, but it is not resolved the moment they arrive in a potential country of asylum. This panel explores how mental health issues arise throughout the refugee journey from both sociological and legal perspectives.

It starts with S. Nikeaateghad on how for people seeking asylum, “finding home” is not a single moment of arrival but a protracted and uncertain process of negotiating recognition within unfamiliar and hostile legal, social, and economic landscapes – “home” is not merely a physical shelter but a symbolic and affective anchor of identity, meaning, and relational belonging. Displacement disrupts not only geographical rootedness but also the psychosocial structures through which individuals situate themselves in the world. While voluntary and community-based support networks can foster a sense of belonging, they also operate within what participants experience as moral economies of care, systems in which gratitude and compliance are often expected, and where the ability to express dissatisfaction risks being construed as ingratitude.

The second presentation by C. Ferstman looks at how the detention of migrants and refugees can significantly and negatively impact mental health, leading to increased rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.  Furthermore, detention environments can exacerbate existing mental health conditions due to the lack of control, oppressive atmosphere, and limited access to specialized treatment. In certain circumstances this can rise to the level of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, if not torture, yet receiving countries including the UK continue to detain as a matter of routine refugees and other migrants regardless of their exposure to past trauma and irrespective of the significant mental health risks posed by the detention. The paper considers why the law that should protect vulnerable people from harm, has ceased to function.

R.R. Luthra’s work on how locational characteristics affect the mental health of refugees, focusing specifically on the roles of co-ethnic networks and local hostility towards refugees in the Netherlands, forms the third presentation. Refugee mental health remains underexplored, often relying on generalized survey data that neglects the unique experiences of refugee populations. This study seeks to illuminate how locational characteristics affect the mental health of refugees, focusing specifically on the roles of co-ethnic networks and local hostility towards refugees in the Netherlands.

Finally, GS Gilbert looks at how trauma and mental health can play a role when it would otherwise be safe for refugees to return, but for some that is never possible because of what drove them to flee or the conditions in the country of nationality during its transitional phase, drawing on international refugee law and international human rights law.

• Sayna Nikeaateghad is a Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Essex
• Carla Ferstman is a Professor, Essex Law School and Director of the Essex Human Rights Centre
• Renee Luthra is a Professor, Department of Sociology, Deputy Director, ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC) (Joint work with Hiromi Yumoto (Senior Research Officer, MiSoC) and Ceren Ozgen (Associate Professor in Economics, Birmingham)).
• Geoff Gilbert is Sérgio Vieira de Mello Professor of International Human Rights & Humanitarian Law, Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre; Senior Adviser to PPLA, Division of International Protection, UNHCR.