Psychological Distress in Afghan Refugees: A Mixed-Method Systematic Review
Open accessAbstract
Mental health problems disproportionately affect Afghan refugees and asylum seekers who continue to seek international protection with prolonged exposure to war. We performed a systematic review aimed at synthesizing peer-reviewed literature pertaining to mental health problems among Afghans resettled in industrialized nations. We used five databases to identify studies published between 1979 and 2013 that provided data on distress levels, and subjective experiences with distress. Seventeen studies met our inclusion criteria consisting of 1 mixed-method, 7 qualitative, and 9 quantitative studies. Themes from our qualitative synthesis described antecedents for distress being rooted in cultural conflicts and loss, and also described unique coping mechanisms. Quantitative findings indicated moderate to high prevalence of depressive and posttraumatic symptomatology. These findings support the need for continued mental health research with Afghans that accounts for: distress among newly resettled groups, professional help-seeking utilization patterns, and also culturally relevant strategies for mitigating distress and engaging Afghans in research.
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Asylum seekers and refugees are at great risk for developing mental disorders.
“Asylum seekers and refugees are at great risk for developing mental disorders.”
From A brief transdiagnostic psychological intervention for Afghan asylum seekers and refugees in Austria: A randomized controlled trial (2020) · cites this paper as [3]
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References 122 · Cited by 170
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [43]Aziz N United States International University Cultural sensitization and clinical guidelines for mental health professionals working with Afghan immigrant/refugee women in the United States 1999 Dissertation Abstracts International USA
- Authors
- Alemi, Q., James, S., Cruz, R., Zepeda, V., & Racadio, M.
- Affiliations
- Loma Linda University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Alemi, Qais
- Venue
- Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
- Published
- 2013-06-20
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1247-1261
- ISSN
- 1557-1912 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-1920
- PMC
- PMC3912229
- OpenAlex
- W1984161548
- Cited by
- 170
- References
- 122
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH077732, R25MH080916)
- Office of Refugee Resettlement
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Keywords
- Afghan refugees, asylum seekers, psychological distress, mental health, depression, post-traumatic stress, war exposure, cultural conflict, loss, coping strategies, help-seeking, resettlement, culturally sensitive interventions
- MeSH terms
- Afghanistan, Humans, Refugees, Stress, Psychological, Afghan Campaign 2001-
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