EV466Characterization of the refugee population in a psychiatry clinic in Lisbon

Abstract

The refugee population has been a growing concern to the developed countries in general and to Europe in particular. The recent mass migrations are changing the population that is getting to the psychiatric hospitals, not only culturally but also pathologically. The aim of this study is to characterize the refugee population that contacts with the clinic of transcultural psychiatry in Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa, understanding the most frequent pathologies and nationalities. The methods used consisted in analyzing the refugee population that attended a psychotherapeutic group and consultation in the Transcultural clinic of Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa during the past year. Analyzing the population, 66 refugees were in contact with the transcultural clinic, 44 of which were men, being the other 22 women, representing a total of 23 countries. The more frequent nationality was Iranian (20) and the most frequent diagnosis was “adjustment disorder and anxiety” (38). We can reach the conclusion that more refugee men contact with our psychiatric hospital than women, accounting for 66, 6% of the total; 30, 3% of the refugees were from Iran, followed by Pakistan with 10, 6%. The fact that the most frequent diagnosis is adjustment disorder and anxiety, accounting for 57, 6% of the sample, seems to point out the extreme stress refugees undergo.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.