Literature Review on Mental Health Issue

Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF AFRICAN
REFUGEES IN AUSTRALIA
Literature review on mental health issues of African Refugees in Australia
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LITERATURE REVIEW ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF AFRICAN REFUGEES IN
AUSTRALIA
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Introduction
Mental health is defined as the psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Mental
health affects the way we think, feel, and act as well as our capability of coping up with life.
Sound mental health is responsible for determining our capacity for dealing with stress, relating
to others, and making choices. Ensuring sound mental health is important in all stages of our
lives – childhood, adolescence, along with adulthood.
Mental illness is defined as disorders that disrupt our thinking process, affect our moods,
and change our behavior. The influence of mental illness can take place for a short period of
time, or for a long time frame. The importance assigned to mental health varies from country to
country. Cultural barriers are also a setback towards ensuring enough discussions on mental
health.
Mental health in Africa
In the history of Africa, mental health has always been neglected, and no development
has occurred in terms of policy-making (Oni et al. 2016). Many factors contribute towards this
condition of Africa, such as poverty, maternal and child mortality, infectious disease, and
internal conflict. This trend is often backed by factors such as ignorance regarding the impact of
mental health, the stigma regarding mental health and illnesses, and the fact that such illnesses
cannot be addressed by medical science. The absence of treatment has been taken to be the norm
in the continent. A huge “treatment gap” exists between the number of people who have received
care and those neglected. This range is as high as 75% in South Africa, to 90% in Ethiopia as
well as Nigeria (Petersen et al. 2016).

LITERATURE REVIEW ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF AFRICAN REFUGEES IN
AUSTRALIA
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The complexities regarding mental health in Africa
At the center of stigmas regarding mental health in Africa is the lack of awareness about
mental health and mental disorders. In many states of Africa, such as Ghana, no clinics or health
care services catering to mental health are available. Instead, people resort to prayer camps that
are entirely based on myths and are run on the basis of religion. According to a recent study, a
number as high as 75% of the population belonging to the low and middle-class income in the
continent of Africa do not have access to any form of mental health services (Petersen et al.
2016). People who are battling depression, anxiety, and any other form of mental disorder lack
access to proper care. All forms of curable mental disorders have been mismanaged and
neglected by the government. Those who are suffering from mental illnesses are considered to be
possessed by some witches or is under the influence of some bad spirit. Since the knowledge
regarding mental health is completely missing, human rights advocates working towards the
attainment of a better society completely avoid discussing issues pertaining to mental health for
fear of being labeled as “mad”. The denial to seek help and therapy led to being vulnerable to
self-inflicted harm, mental breakdown, and suicide (Egbe et al., 2014).
The suffering of the people is intensified because of the prejudices present in the people
around as well as the community at large. The prejudice is not limited to the individual but is
extended to the entire family. Two major forms of stigma are public and self-stigma. Public
stigma is defined as the way the public or the general population deals with mental illnesses, and
the causes behind it, along with possible responses towards particular situations. While self-
stigma is defined as the attitude of the individual who is suffering from a particular mental illness
and their internalization of the prejudices of the community that influences their respective

LITERATURE REVIEW ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF AFRICAN REFUGEES IN
AUSTRALIA
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understanding, these stigmas are gain highly and deeply associated with stereotypes that are
practiced by the population which leads to the formation of prejudices and ultimate
discrimination. Stigmas regarding mental illness are as old as human society and end up having
an extremely negative effect on the lives of those who were battling with mental illness issues
(Egbe et al., 2014).
These prejudices that are practiced by the population in Africa sometimes take extreme
forms that have a detrimental effect on the very nature of the self, along with affecting the
various aspects of the person’s life. Mental illnesses are regarded as curse and punishment of
gods that one receives for any kind of wrongdoing towards one’s parents. Such superstitions and
stigmas lead to the exclusion of the individual as well as the family from society. The stigmas are
also present in the most intimate unit of the society, the family. The kind of atrocities includes
being denied of food, being laughed at or mocked, neglect, beaten, tied up in a tree etc. the
community is also responsible for practicing stigmatized practices. The community includes
neighbors, members of the church, friends, as well as employers. Research show instances where
mental health service users have been provoked called various names and pushed around only
because of their mental health conditions (Egbe et al., 2014).
These acts do not stop even if the person is stable or has been cured. Another important
stereotype that is present in the African society is the fact that being mentally ill is a choice, and
hence a deliberate act from the part of those individuals who are suffering from any mental
disorders. The community members believe that the individuals pretend to be ill and act out of
deliberate attempts to seek attention. This again ensures that those suffering stay away from
seeking help. The birth of such misconceptions come from the fact that the usual symptoms of
physical illnesses are not always seen in those who are mentally ill. Those individuals suffer