Perceived Trauma and Mental Health among Refugees in India

Refugees who leave their country because of fear of violence or starvation usually had extreme traumatic experiences which affect their mental health immensely. Since limited researches are available on the psychological problems of refugees present study attempted to assess the traumatic experiences and mental health status of refugees. The study was conducted on 60 refugees from Myanmar staying in India for the last three years. To assess the extent of their traumatic experiences post-traumatic stress disorder checklist was used. Besides that a Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale was also administered to assess their mental health status. Findings showed substantial traumatic experience and poor mental health of the refugees in general. Significant difference between males and females were obtained in traumatic experiences and status of mental health. However, mixed results were obtained for the two age groups of both the genders on traumatic experience and mental health. Further, significant correlations were also found between the two variables.