Escaping your motherland because of war and natural disasters can leave a mark on a person. In 2015, the number of refugees around the world skyrocketed to 60 million (considered to be the highest since WWII). In a new study, experts have revealed that refugees are more at risk of developing psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia than native-residents and other migrants.
A study of about 1.3 million people in Sweden found that refugees can suffer schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorder as other native-born Swedes. Refugees were also found to have a two-thirds chance of developing psychiatric disorders than those who left their country for a different reason, the Washington Post reported.
Past research connected refugees to an increase in the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety; this is the first study that focused on the risk of psychosis. The researchers chose Sweden mainly because it has granted the highest number of refugee application than any high-income country in the world. They studied Swedish-born people as well as other migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
According to Medical Daily, among the millions of people involved in the study, there are about 3,704 who had been diagnosed with a non-affective psychotic disorder, and found that refugees had a 66% chance of developing the disorder compared to non-refugee migrants. They were also found to be 3.6 times more likely to have a non-affective psychotic disorder that the rest of the Swedish population.
The new study emphasized the increased risk of psychosis in refugees which can be a difficult diagnosis to manage and treat. "Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders lead to lifelong health and social adversities, culminating in a reduction in life expectancy of 10 to 25 years," the authors wrote in the study. "Immigrants and their descendants are, on average, 2.5 times more likely to have a psychotic disorder than the majority ethnic group in a given setting."
They also noticed that some of the most visible factors that contribute to the risk are trauma, abuse, socioeconomic disadvantage, and discrimination. "If this is the case," the authors wrote, "people granted refugee status may be particularly vulnerable to psychosis, given their increased likelihood of having experienced conflict, persecution, violence, or other forms of psychosocial adversity."
