Mental health implications of detaining asylum seekers: systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Background: The number of asylum seekers, refugees and internally displaced people worldwide is rising. Western countries are using increasingly restrictive policies, including the detention of asylum seekers, and there is concern that this is harmful. Aims: To investigate mental health outcomes among adult, child and adolescent immigration detainees. Method: A systematic review was conducted of studies investigating the impact of immigration detention on the mental health of children, adolescents and adults, identified by a systematic search of databases and a supplementary manual search of references. Results: Ten studies were identified. All reported high levels of mental health problems in detainees. Anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder were commonly reported, as were self-harm and suicidal ideation. Time in detention was positively associated with severity of distress. There is evidence for an initial improvement in mental health occurring subsequent to release, although longitudinal results have shown that the negative impact of detention persists. Conclusions: This area of research is in its infancy and studies are limited by methodological constraints. Findings consistently report high levels of mental health problems among detainees. There is some evidence to suggest an independent adverse effect of detention on mental health.
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Long asylum periods have been associated with poor mental health.
“Long asylum periods have been associated with poor mental health (Robjant et al., 2009) and Silove et al. (2007) have demonstrated how asylum policies can create trauma and added stressors in an already troubled population.”
From Refugees versus persons family reunified to a refugee: A comparison of sociodemographic factors, trauma history, baseline psychopathology and treatment effectiveness (2023) · cites this paper as Robjant et al., 2009
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- Authors
- Robjant, K., Hassan, R., & Katona, C.
- Affiliations
- Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University of Kent (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Robjant, Katy
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2009-04
- Volume
- 194
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 306-312
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2155034407
- Cited by
- 409
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 2.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Health › Migration, Racism, and Human Rights
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Refugees, and Integration
- Keywords
- immigration detention, asylum seekers, refugee detention, mental health outcomes, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm, suicidal ideation, children and adolescents, detention time, release from detention
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Australia, Mental Disorders, Child, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Refugees, Severity of Illness Index, Time Factors, United States, Emigrants and Immigrants, Young Adult
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