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Mental health among recent immigrants to Sweden from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Solvig Ekblad
Solvig Ekblad*
Affiliation:
Transcultural Psychology, Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, email Solvig.Ekblad@stressforskning.su.se
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Several European states such as Sweden have become transit countries for migrants, as well as reception countries for an increasing number of young migrants, not only asylum seekers and refugees from beyond Europe but also from the European Union's new members, after the dissolution of the Soviet bloc in 1989 and then the Soviet Union itself in 1991. Over 110000 immigrants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union resided in Sweden in 2002, although the exact figure is difficult to estimate because of the varied legal status of the migrants. International migration is not a new phenomenon in this part of the world, of course: people have always moved in the search of greater personal safety, among other reasons. However, new groups with new psychosocial needs and demands on the healthcare systems of the host countries will be a challenge. The aim of this article is to give an overview of three sets of empirical data:

  1. • the prevalence of mental disorders among recent immigrants to Sweden from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

  2. • their access to mental health and social care facilities arising from their legal status

  3. • their utilisation of health and social services

Type
Thematic Paper - Migration and Psychiatric Adjustment
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 55 - 57
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2008

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