Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America
Volume 17, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 665-683

The Child Asylum Seeker: Psychological and Developmental Impact of Immigration Detention (Review)

Newman L.K.* , Steel Z.
  • a Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, Locked Bag 1014, Wallsend, NSW 2308, Australia
  • b Centre for Population Mental Health Research, Sydney South West Area Health Service, Psychiatry Research and Teaching Unit, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Abstract

Asylum-seeking children are one of the most vulnerable groups of displaced persons. The experience of being a detainee, with limited ways of communicating one's plight, shapes the expression of distress. Clinicians need to see the distress and symptoms of mental disorder as emerging in the context of the detention environment rather than within a traditional medical model. The use of diagnostic labels without elaboration does not provide an adequate account of the child's difficulties. The clinician has an important role in bearing witness to the harm done to detainees as well as trying to prevent harm in whatever way possible. Crown Copyright © 2008.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

immigration human Refugees priority journal mental disease Humans developmental disorder male child psychology punishment Review child psychiatry Prisons distress syndrome Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic child advocacy Child Development Commitment of Mentally Ill Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-44949101511&doi=10.1016%2fj.chc.2008.02.009&partnerID=40&md5=5bc401ed61929321e8a0be81a157391c
DOI: 10.1016/j.chc.2008.02.009
ISSN: 10564993
Cited by: 22
Original Language: English