‘The Golden Country’: Ex-Yugoslav and African Refugee Experiences of Settlement and ‘Depression’

Abstract

Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are frequent diagnoses made of refugee clients by health professionals attempting to deal with patients having settlement difficulties. However, this focus on psychological diagnosis and intervention tends to ignore political, economic, cultural and racial aspects of the settlement experience which affect well-being. This paper reports the findings of two studies of ex-Yugoslav and Horn of Africa refugee settlement experiences in Perth, Western Australia, which demonstrate the links, in the perceptions of refugees at least, between well-being and two closely related factors: employment and ‘culture shock’. It reports data from questionnaires, interviews and focus groups with over 200 people from refugee backgrounds—including Bosnians, Croatians, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese and Somalis—which indicate their perception that post-migration experiences are more important in undermining well-being than pre-migration physical and psychological trauma.