Many health professionals feel ill-equipped to deal with the complex needs of asylum-seekers and refugees. This article offers an overview of the literature, and reviews the demography, epidemiology and causes of mental illness in refugee and asylum-seeker groups. It discusses the types of service configurations and service response that would be appropriate. It highlights the findings of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' consensus team and their position statement on the treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers. It finishes with some thoughts about what clinicians can do to improve their treatment. Clearly, there is a need for more training, education and service development.

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refugee health care policy demography behavior therapy human clinical assessment detention coping behavior psychopharmacology social support mental health care institutional care mental disease asylum seeker human rights mental patient risk factor geographic origin Review prevalence help seeking behavior employment status migration legal aspect health care access posttraumatic stress disorder United Kingdom psychotropic agent social discrimination decision making