What do traumatic life events mean for the mental health of female refugees?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-07-21 01:00

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***This media release contains information some readers may find distressing as it refers to data about family and domestic violence. If you are in immediate danger, call 000 for Police and Ambulance. If you or anyone you know needs help, support is available now. Call 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or  Lifeline on 131 114.***

German and Dutch researchers say that a history of family violence has the highest association with mental health issues among female refugees. Additionally, they found family violence to culminate with higher scores associated with depression, anxiety and somatisation - a tendency to experience and communicate psychological distress as bodily and organic symptoms and to seek medical help for them - than the cumulative exposure to traumas such as war, accidents, a lack of housing, hunger and being near death.