LARGE NUMBER OF ASYLUMSEEKERS TRAUMATISED

Over 400,000 asylum-seekers have come to the Netherlands in recent decades. Many of them were fleeing war, torture, or political or ethnic persecution. Large numbers of them were traumatised by their experiences. These would-be immigrants often have to wait for months or even years for their asylum requests to be examined by the Dutch authorities. This long waiting period and the uncertainty about whether they will be granted refugee status only exacerbate their traumas.

‘Many of the asylum-seekers who arrive here,’ says a doctor of a Dutch mental health care association, ‘have lost everything, not only material things, but also their family and their network of friends and acquaintances. Their diplomas are no longer worth anything. And, on top of that, they have been traumatised.’

When asylum-seekers first arrive in the Netherlands, they are interviewed by the IND, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service. Many are so traumatised that they are initially unable to tell their stories, says the president of the Dutch health care association. ‘People don't talk about what happened to them because they don't dare, because they're afraid, or because they simply can't. It takes time. Sometimes it takes up to six months, a year or even longer before the truth comes out.’

The Immigration and Naturalisation Service's in-take interview with asylum-seekers is crucial for the government's decision as to whether they have a well-founded fear of persecution in their country. Since asylum-seekers are often unable to tell their full story during their first interview or since they are so traumatised that there are inconsistencies in their story, their applications are often turned down.

Trauma presents itself in various forms, says a psychologist working for an organisation which specialises in treating asylum-seekers and refugees: ‘They are over-stressed 24 hours a day. They can't sleep well. Their anger is not only directed towards themselves but also towards their children, spouses and neighbours.’

It is a vicious circle that isolates them even more and increases their stress levels, says the psychologist. ’None of their friends want to deal with them any longer. They're depressed and suffer from anxiety attacks. Sometimes they hear voices and people think they are lunatics. Some of them even think of committing suicide.’

Treatment can take on various forms, mostly on an out-patient basis, involving individual or group therapy. The key, says the doctor a the mental health care association, is to try to find positive elements in the person's life to give them the strength to carry on. ‘We try to combine therapies that allow them to talk about their experiences, together with other sorts of therapy that help them to share their feelings through other media like art, body movement or music. We use these alternative therapies because at first our clients often have great difficulty finding words to recount the awful things they have been through.’

But for some people, no amount of treatment can help them overcome their traumas. De mental health care doctor calls these people 'dead souls'. ‘The dead souls lie in bed. You know more or less what happened to them from other sources, but they don't talk about it. They don't look at you. They don't make contact. The only thing you see is huge anxiety.’

They tend to make therapists feel quite helpless because there is virtually nothing they can do to improve their patients' situation. ’The treatment lasts for years, maybe for their entire life. A good therapist must become more of a kind of case manager who supports the patient and the family, and maybe 10 years later, the first traces of contact will arise.’

The Netherlands' long asylum process is not conducive to the treatment of traumatised asylum-seekers. ‘Many of our patients are not feeling safe,’ the psychologist states, ‘because of their traumas and because they often receive a negative decision from the Ministry of Justice.’

A Amsterdam-based trans cultural psychosocial organisation, the world's biggest independent organisation dealing with psychosocial and mental health care for survivors of war and organised violence, has done research on the long waiting period facing traumatised asylum-seekers. The director of the psychosocial organisation: ‘we found out that waiting for the refugee status for more than two years doubles the amount of psychological problems people have. The endless asylum procedure is an enormous, traumatic stressor for people.’ So, even people who entered the asylum process without being traumatised become traumatised, and traumatised asylum-seekers see their symptoms worsen.

In 2001, the Dutch government adopted a much stricter policy to stem the influx of asylum-seekers and to address growing anti-immigrant sentiments in this country. It's processing asylum applications much more quickly and expelling people who it says don't face persecution in their country.

A year later, in 2002, the government created the post of Minister for Immigration and Integration, making the management of immigration flows and the control and evaluation of refugee and migrant integration policies a top priority. Minister Rita Verdonk's policies have led to a sharp decline in the number of asylum applications, from 44,000 in 2000 to less than 10,000 in 2004.

The government moves have been condemned by Human Rights Watch and other organisations. Opposition parties have also criticised the measures which they consider inhumane. They point out that despite the expulsion orders, many of these asylum-seekers remain illegally in The Netherlands. The director of the psychosocial organisation is also critical of the government policies: ‘I think we are putting a time bomb under our society. We are luring people into an illegal existence where they are excluded from social benefits and have to steal to survive.’
 
Government parties, such as the Christian Democrats, argue that traumatised asylum-seekers can get treatment in their own country. But this is an illusion, says the president of the Dutch health care association. ‘The mental health care system in most of the countries where these people come is poor. There's simply no care available.’

The psychologist agrees. ‘If people are in treatment, I think it would be wise for them to end it here.’ Nonetheless, earlier this year, Minister Verdonk announced that the 26,000 asylum-seekers who have exhausted the appeals procedures, including those who have been traumatised, will be deported.

For Mohammedi, a 20-year-old traumatised asylum-seeker from Afghanistan, the future looks bleak. ‘I have a question for this whole world: if I cannot live in my country, if I cannot live in Europe, where should I go?’ more features

September 25, 2006