Immigrants twice as likely to develop severe mental disorders, study suggests

Immigrants may be at a higher risk of developing severe mental health disorders, a major study suggests.  

Using data from five countries, researchers looked at the medical records of nearly 1,000 people who migrated to another country and compared them to natural citizens of the same age.

The team found that migrants who moved when they were a child or teenager are twice as likely to develop psychosis, a mental health condition that causes patients to lose touch with reality. 

The researchers believe that these detrimental mental health effects could be due to the trauma from migration occurring during pivotal times of social development. 

The research comes as immigration has become a major political talking point, including former president Donald Trump (pictured here) claiming that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were ‘eating’ residents’ pets

The findings come amid surges of migrants entering the US, largely from Central American countries like Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala, which has become a major political talking point leading up to the presidential election next month.

In a presidential debate last month, former president Donald Trump went as far as stating that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were ‘eating’ residents’ pets. 

Psychosis, which occurs in about 100,000 Americans, leads to hallucinations, delusions, and extreme mood swings. 

Between 2010 and 2015, the researchers, who come from five countries, recruited 937 migrants and 1,195 non-migrants. 

Participants were born in European countries like France, the UK, Italy, and Spain, as well as other regions like North and Sub-Saharan Africa, and Middle East, and the Americas. 

The majority of migrants relocated as adults, and nine in 10 had no family history of psychosis. 

The team ‘found that migration at any age was associated with increased odds of psychosis’ and ‘the greatest increase was evident for those who migrated during adolescence.’ 

Overall, migrants ages 11 to 17 were at the highest risk of psychosis among all races. 

White teenage immigrants were twice as likely as their white non-migrant peers to develop psychosis, while Asian teens had a 29 percent higher likelihood than non-migrants.

North African migrants were at the highest risk of psychosis, with an average three-fold greater risk among all age groups.

Teens in this group were the most vulnerable. The researchers found that North African teens ages 11 to 17 are 16 times more likely to have at least one psychotic episodes than non-migrants, and every other age group in that demographic was at least three times more likely to have an episode. 

The researchers noted that teenagers, in particular, could be prone to psychosis due to increased exposure to traumatic events and losing friends and other social networks (pictured: Colombian asylum seekers walk through the desert after crossing the US-Mexico near Jacumba Hot Springs, California)

However, an important caveat is that North Africans only made up less than four percent of the participants, which could lead to bias. 

Black migrants were also especially prone to these mental health effects, with black teens being more than six times more likely to suffer psychosis. Infants, meanwhile, had a three-fold higher likelihood, and adults in this group were at twice the risk. 

While adults overall were 61 percent more likely than non-migrants to have psychosis, they had the lowest risk of all age groups. 

The researchers noted that teenagers were particularly prone to psychosis due to several factors. For example, adolescent migrants, they said, were more likely to experience trauma like parental separation than adults. 

And teens are more likely than children to have experienced traumatic events like violence and poor socioeconomic status for longer periods of time than younger children. 

Teens may also struggle more than young children to adjust to their new culture, such as learning the language or making friends. Additionally, the team noted that this group particularly leans on friends and social networks, and migrating would disrupt those. 

In terms of race, Latino and black populations are at the highest risk of psychosis and other mental health disorders due to increased likelihood of trauma like racial discrimination, food insecurity, and police violence.