454 Refugees and Displaced Women
Mental
Health
➤ A woman must
be able to cope
with sudden and
forced change in
order to help her
family survive.
413
mental health
Causes of mental health problems
Refugee and displaced women face many of the difficulties
listed below, which can cause mental health problems or make
them worse. Mental health problems include feeling extreme
sadness or not feeling anything at all (depression), feeling
nervous or worried (anxiety), or feeling unable to get over
horrible things that happened in the past (severe reactions
to trauma).
• Loss of home. Because home is the one place where a
woman often has some authority, losing her home may be
especially painful.
• Loss of support from family and community. As her family’s
caregiver, a woman must provide security for her children,
and support her partner and parents. If her husband
and older sons have died in fighting or joined military
forces, she must also become head of the family. All these
responsibilities can make her feel afraid and alone. This can
happen even when other adults in the family are with her,
because often they cannot support her as they did before.
• Witnessing or being a victim of violence.
• Loss of independence and useful work. Although a woman
still has the important job of caring for her family, in other
ways her life may be more limited now. For example, before
leaving her home, a woman might have been responsible for
growing crops, weaving, sewing, and baking bread. If she can
no longer do these things, she may feel useless and sad.
• Crowded living. Without space, it is much harder for a
woman to cope with the extra demands of caring for
her family.
• Difficulty mourning or grieving. Refugee and displaced
women may have lost family members before reaching their
new home, but have been unable to carry out traditional
burial or mourning ceremonies. Once in a place of refuge, it
may still be impossible to bury or mourn in traditional ways.
In many places, women are responsible for carrying out
these ceremonies, which are important in order to grieve
and accept the death of a loved one.
Signs of mental health problems
For information about the signs of mental health problems
like depression, anxiety, and severe reactions to trauma, see
the chapter on “Mental Health.”
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012