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Psychopathology in refugees subjected to the Dublin Regulation: an Italian study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2020

Emanuele Caroppo ,
Pierluigi Lanzotti  and
Luigi Janiri Open the ORCID record for Luigi Janiri [Opens in a new window]
Emanuele Caroppo
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Roma, Italy Department of Mental Health, Local Health Authority, Rome, Italy
Pierluigi Lanzotti*
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Roma, Italy Department of Neurosciences, Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Luigi Janiri
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Roma, Italy Department of Neurosciences, Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
*
Pierluigi Lanzotti, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background

Literature shows that migrants—a generic definition for persons who leave their own country of origin—have increased psychopathological vulnerability. Between 2014 and 2017, 976 963 non-European Union (non-EU) people arrived in Italy, of which 30% for humanitarian reasons. This study is aimed at a better understanding of the experience of asylum seekers who transferred to Italy were subjected to the EU Dublin Regulation and most of them suspended in their asylum application.

Methods

We elaborate a descriptive study based on a population of refugees and asylum seekers who have suffered from social and personal migratory stressful factors. Clinical data was collected between 2011 and 2013 at the “A. Gemelli” General Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy. Minors, elderly people, and patients who are unable to declare a voluntary consensus and economic migrants were excluded from the study. Candidates for the status of refugee or asylum seekers were included.

Results

The sample consisted of 180 asylum seekers aged 25.52 ± 5.6 years. Most frequently diagnosis was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (53%), subthreshold PTSD was reported in 22% of subjects. We found phenomenological patterns highly representative of PTSD of the dissociative subtype. Around 20% of the sample suffered from psychotic symptomatology.

Conclusions

Loss of the migratory project and the alienation mediated by chronic social defeat paradigm may trigger a psychopathological condition described by the failure to cope with the negative emotional context of social exclusion and solitude. A common and integrated treatment project is needed, with the scope of reintegrating the migrant’s personal and narrative identity.

Keywords

PTSDpost-traumatic stress disorderDublin RegulationDublin Migration Syndromerefugees psychopathology
Type
Research Article
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 77 - 83
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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