Janet Cleveland1, Rachel Kronick2,3,4, Hanna Gros5, Cécile Rousseau6,3. 1. Centre de recherche Sherpa, Institut universitaire au regard des communautés culturelles, CIUSSS Centre-Ouest de l'Ile de Montréal, 7085 Hutchison St., #204.2, Montreal, QC, H3N1Y9, Canada. janet.cleveland@mail.mcgill.ca. 2. Centre for Child Development and Mental Health, Jewish General Hospital, 4333 Côte St-Catherine Road, Montreal, QC, H3T 1E4, Canada. 3. Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. 4. Department of Psychiatry, Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada. 5. International Human Rights Program, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 78 Queen's Park Cres, Toronto, ON, M5S 2C5, Canada. 6. Centre de recherche Sherpa, Institut universitaire au regard des communautés culturelles, CIUSSS Centre-Ouest de l'Ile de Montréal, 7085 Hutchison St., #204.2, Montreal, QC, H3N1Y9, Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The first objective of this qualitative component of a mixed-methods study is to provide a descriptive account of adult asylum seekers' experience of detention in Canadian immigration detention centers. The second objective is to identify the main underlying factors accounting for their reported feelings of distress. METHODS: Researchers interviewed 81 adult asylum seekers held in two Canadian immigration detention centers concerning their experience of detention. Participants were drawn from a sample of 122 detained asylum seekers who had completed structured questionnaires about mental health and detention conditions. RESULTS: Asylum seekers expressed shock and humiliation at being "treated like criminals." Detainees felt disempowered by the experience of waiting for an indeterminate period for the outcome of a discretionary decision over which they have little control, but which will determine their freedom and their future. For trauma survivors, detention sometimes triggered retraumatization. CONCLUSIONS: Detention, even for brief periods in relatively adequate conditions, was found to be detrimental to asylum seekers' mental health. This adverse impact appears to be largely attributable to the combined effect of two factors: symbolic violence and disempowerment.
OBJECTIVES: The first objective of this qualitative component of a mixed-methods study is to provide a descriptive account of adult asylum seekers' experience of detention in Canadian immigration detention centers. The second objective is to identify the main underlying factors accounting for their reported feelings of distress. METHODS: Researchers interviewed 81 adult asylum seekers held in two Canadian immigration detention centers concerning their experience of detention. Participants were drawn from a sample of 122 detained asylum seekers who had completed structured questionnaires about mental health and detention conditions. RESULTS: Asylum seekers expressed shock and humiliation at being "treated like criminals." Detainees felt disempowered by the experience of waiting for an indeterminate period for the outcome of a discretionary decision over which they have little control, but which will determine their freedom and their future. For trauma survivors, detention sometimes triggered retraumatization. CONCLUSIONS: Detention, even for brief periods in relatively adequate conditions, was found to be detrimental to asylum seekers' mental health. This adverse impact appears to be largely attributable to the combined effect of two factors: symbolic violence and disempowerment.
Entities:
Keywords:
Asylum seekers; Detention; Human rights; Mental health; Migrants
Authors: Allen S Keller; Barry Rosenfeld; Chau Trinh-Shevrin; Chris Meserve; Emily Sachs; Jonathan A Leviss; Elizabeth Singer; Hawthorne Smith; John Wilkinson; Glen Kim; Kathleen Allden; Douglas Ford Journal: Lancet Date: 2003-11-22 Impact factor: 79.321
Authors: Kathryn Hampton; Ranit Mishori; Marsha Griffin; Claire Hillier; Elizabeth Pirrotta; N Ewen Wang Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2022-03-23 Impact factor: 3.295