Psychiatric Emergencies of Asylum Seekers; Descriptive Analysis and Comparison with Immigrants of Warranted Residence

Georgios Schoretsanitis, Sarah Eisenhardt, Meret E. Ricklin, David S. Srivastava, Sebastian Walther and Aristomenis Exadaktylos
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Georgios Schoretsanitis: University Hospital of Psychiatry, 3008 Bern, Switzerland
Sarah Eisenhardt: University Hospital of Psychiatry, 3008 Bern, Switzerland
Meret E. Ricklin: Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Freiburgstrasse, 3010 Bern, Switzerland
David S. Srivastava: Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Freiburgstrasse, 3010 Bern, Switzerland
Sebastian Walther: University Hospital of Psychiatry, 3008 Bern, Switzerland
Aristomenis Exadaktylos: Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Freiburgstrasse, 3010 Bern, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-10

Abstract: Background: The aim of our study was to assess utilization patterns of psychiatric services by asylum seekers. Methods: We included 119 adults who presented themselves at the University Emergency Department between 1 March 2012 and 1 January 2017 for psychiatric consultation. Descriptive data were compared with a control group of non-Swiss individuals with warranted residence permits using Mann-Whitney- U and chi square (χ 2 ) tests. Results: Patients were mainly single, male, residing in reception centers, and presented themselves most frequently due to suicidal ideation. Almost 60% of the patients were assigned to inpatient treatments, with 28 involuntary cases. Compared to the control group, asylum seekers were younger and more often men ( p < 0.001 for both). Further, they less often had family in Switzerland (χ 2 = 9.91, p = 0.007). The proportion of patients coming in as walk-ins was significantly higher in the control group than in asylum seekers (χ 2 = 37.0, p < 0.001). Asylum seekers were more frequently referred due to suicidal ideation and aggressive behavior than participants in the control group (χ 2 = 80.07, p < 0.001). Diagnoses for asylum seekers infrequently included mood, as they often reported stress-related disorders (χ 2 = 19.6, p = 0.021) and they were infrequently released home (χ 2 = 9.19, p = 0.027). Conclusion: Asylum seekers more frequently demonstrated severe symptoms such as suicidal ideation and aggressive behavior and they were mainly treated as inpatients, potentially due to minimal social resources.

Keywords: asylum seekers; psychiatric emergency services; involuntary treatment; psychiatric hospitalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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