protracted asylum seeker syndrome

[bluelikejazz]

A group of Psychiatrists are presenting to the

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists' annual congress their opinion of a new disorder that's emerging amongst asylum seekers. Symptoms include:

The symptoms, which he believed constituted a previously unidentified psychiatric syndrome, included poor concentration, impaired memory, flat depressed mood, psychotic episodes, anger and rage, obsession with their protection claim, intermittent suicidal thoughts and possibly ongoing physiological symptoms such as sore eyes.

Read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/new-syndrome-hits-detainees-20120521-1z1d0.html#ixzz1vb6orSfy

I don't doubt that our policy of holding very traumatised people indefinitely without appeal is incredibly damaging to mental health and needs to be changed, but I'm not sure these symptoms couldn't be explained under MDD, PTSD and cultural expressions of those.

The question is, will labeling it as a distinct 'illness' achieve anything more for the rights of asylum seekers?

[Guest]

Having worked with asylum seekers, I think the stress they are under goes underestimated by the government agencies assessing their claims, and it's only recently that contracts for working with torture victims and those with PTSD due to being in conflict zones have become offered. I would certainly say that mental and physical ill health can result from the lack of health awareness and poverty of asylum seekers (here in the UK, at least) whether that needs to be treated as composite disorder or whether like you say, it's a combination of factors, I don't know.

[Guest Vapourware]

I think having this new label actually highlights the immense stress that asylum seekers endure. I think there's a gross misconception - at least in Australia - about how asylum seekers are queue-jumpers and illegal immigrants. Having this new name highlights the trauma being an asylum seeker entails, and the seriousness of the situations these people have had to leave.

[december_brigette]

I think having this new label actually highlights the immense stress that asylum seekers endure. I think there's a gross misconception - at least in Australia - about how asylum seekers are queue-jumpers and illegal immigrants. Having this new name highlights the trauma being an asylum seeker entails, and the seriousness of the situations these people have had to leave.

This is my experience in the US...not that Im an asylum seeker but that this is how they are viewed or treated.

db

[crtclms]

Although he did *just* land in the US this week, I couldn't believe we didn't immediately give asylum to that blind Chinese dissident and his family. The US knows perfectly well what happens to dissidents in China. AND their families. It was shameful.

The only good thing was with Hillary Clinton's being there, the Chinese had to at least behave themselves somewhat.

Chen Huangcheng is his name, I just had to look it up.