Abstract
The mental health of refugee families with children during the asylum period is a neglectedresearch area in psychiatry. The present paper describes the situation of 10 refugee familiesresiding at an asylum centre in Finland. Case vignettes are presented to illustrate the situationsof these families. The study shows a high rate of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorderrelatedsymptoms among adult refugees. The case vignettes suggest that during the asylumperiod, many children and adult members of the family are not in a post-traumatic situation, butthey live constantly in a distressing situation. The foremost distress amongst the asylum seekersappeared to be fear of deportation and separation from family members. Most of the adults andall children had not received any psychiatric or psychotherapeutic assessment or treatment. It islikely that current procedures for dealing with the asylum seekers contributes to the level ofstress, family confusion and psychiatric problems in already traumatized refugee families.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
