Prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses in asylum seekers with follow-up

作者：Kneginja Richter, Lukas Peter, Hartmut Lehfeld, Harald Zäske, Salina Brar-Reissinger, Günter Niklewski · 发表于：BMC Psychiatry · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1186/s12888-018-1783-y · 被引用次数：44 · 研究领域：Migration, Health and Trauma、Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research、Mental Health Treatment and Access

BACKGROUND: In the study, the frequency and nature of asylum seekers' psychiatric diagnoses in a German admission center were examined. Additional aims were to identify changes in those diagnoses over time and to investigate health care utilization of mentally ill asylum seekers in the community. METHODS: The sample for the study "Psychiatric Examination of Asylum Seekers" in Bavaria consisted of a total of 283 asylum seekers and included 2 subsamples: help-seeking individuals and a randomly selected group. 34 of all asylum seekers were part of an extensive psychiatric follow-up examination (t2) about six months after the first examination (t1). Here, we used psychometric tools and a psychiatric interview by a medical doctor and a psychologist with the help of translators. RESULTS: 79% of help-seekers and 45% of the random group received at least one psychiatric diagnosis at t1. The most frequent diagnoses were trauma- and stress-related disorders, affective disorders, and insomnia. Men and Muslims were underrepresented in the help-seeking group. In the follow-up subsample, the rate of psychiatric diagnoses went down from 74% at t1 to 38% at t2. In contrast, the number of PTSD cases increased from 4 at t1 to 7 at t2. The severity of PTSD symptoms such as hyperarousal and avoidance also increased. Of the 13 persons in the follow-up-sample diagnosed with depression at t1, only 2 still fit the criteria of the disease at t2. Only 5 subjects had received some sort of psychotherapy...