Objectives: By the end of 2006, 32.9 million people in 111 countries had been placed under the protection scheme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Amongst these people, more than 10 million refugees were fleeing from wars and various conflicts. Few psychological studies (more particularly francophone-based ones) were conducted on the psychological health of asylum seekers among these populations having suffered many traumatisms (war, exile, etc.). The following study was undertaken with asylum seekers in reception centres in the Slovak Republic and its aim was to assess their psychological health and, amongst other aspects, to evaluate post-traumatic stress and depressive and anxiety disorders. Patients and methods: The following data was gathered from 40 asylum seekers who knowingly accepted to undergo a psychological examination including a clinical interview and three questionnaires of self-evaluation: the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Post-Traumatic Stress Questionnaire (PTSQ) and the Experimental Anamnestic Questionnaire. At completion of the interview, the psychologist filled in the Depression Evaluation Scale (MADRS), the Anxiety Appreciation Scale (HAS) and the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorders, major depressive episode and generalized anxiety. Results: This study highlighted the precarious state of psychological health and the substantial psychological co-morbidity of the population seeking asylum in the Slovak Republic. The results show a prevalence rate as important as 55% of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorders, 75% of the participants were exposed to events of a traumatic nature. The prevalence rate is as high as 65% for major depressive episodes and 62.5% for generalized anxiety. Conclusions: The author underlined the major impact of the traumatisms these Europe-based asylum seekers have had to deal with (war traumatisms, flight, exile, etc.) in order to explain the importance of psychological health issues. Certain factors such as the isolation of individuals, not to mention the context of the asylum-seeking procedure and its restraints, become stressful events highly likely to cause psychological vulnerability. These factors represent a field to be explored in depth. The results of this study induce questions relating to the accessibility and to the adequacy of the psychological care proposed by the hosting structures. These queries fall within the framework of a larger questioning relative to potential complementary actions in the field of mental health. © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS.

Slovak Republic Asylum seekers Depression Anxiety Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

generalized anxiety disorder mental stress risk factor clinical article population research Slovakia major depression prevalence Article help seeking behavior human social isolation comorbidity mental health posttraumatic stress disorder