Traumatic pasts and the historical imagination: Symptoms of loss, postcolonial suffering, and counter-memories among African migrants

Anthropological Research Study of Migrants at the First Aid and Reception Center (CPSA) of Lampedusa

A medical anthropology research study was conducted in 2015 at the First Aid and Reception Center (CPSA) on the island of Lampedusa (Italy) as part of a larger health project carried out by the National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP) in Rome. The study investigated the health conditions of migrants at the moment of their departure and on arrival, their migration journey, and their life plans and expectations for the future. The ethnographic method adopted for the study was based on participant observation and on data collection by means of a semi-structured interview (51 items simultaneously translated by cultural mediators into Tigrinya, Arabic, English, and French). Interviewed were 112 adults (82 men and 30 women) from the Gulf of Guinea and the Horn of Africa. The cooccurrence of forced migration and economic concerns was confirmed; violence and torture were constants throughout the migration journey in 81% of cases. Ethnographic data detailed the timing, countries, settings, perpetrators, and types of violence endured. A combination of qualitative and quantitative findings can both facilitate the identification of fragile health conditions and support clinicians in the diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitation pathways. These data illustrate the importance and feasibility of multidisciplinary collaboration even in emergency contexts.

History, violence and collective memory: Implications for mental health in Ecuador

National histories of violence shape experiences of suffering and the ways that mental health professionals respond to them. In Ecuador, mental health literature addressing this crucial issue is scarce and little debated. In contrast, local psychiatrists and psychologists within the country face contemporary challenges that are deeply rooted in a violent colonial past and the perpetuation of its fundamental ethos. This paper critically reviews relevant literature on collective memory and historical trauma, and focuses on Ecuador as a case study on how to incorporate history into modern mental health challenges. The discussion poses key questions and outlines possible ways for Ecuador to address the link between history and mental health, including insights from countries that have struggled with their violent pasts. This paper contributes to ongoing international debate on the role of cultural history in mental health with implications for social scientists and practising clinicians in former colonised nations.

"Madness and Despair are a Force": Global Mental Health, and How People and Cultures Challenge the Hegemony of Western Psychiatry

The author suggests to consider some important hidden connections in Global Mental Health (GMH) discourse and interventions, above all the political meaning of suffering and symptoms, the power of psychiatric diagnostic categories (both Western and traditional) to name and to occult at once other conflicts, and the implicit criticism expressed by so-called local healing knowledge and its epistemologies. These issues, by emphasizing the importance to explore other ontologies, help to understand the perplexity and resistance that GMH and its agenda meet among many scholars and professionals, who denounce the risks of reproducing and globalizing Western hegemonic values concerning health, illness, and healing.

Older migrants in exile: the past holding hands with the present - a qualitative study

The aim of this study was to explore the everyday life conditions experienced by older migrants and their reasons for specific age- and health-related behaviour during the conduct of everyday life. The study comprised 16 qualitative interviews with migrants aged 56-96 years from Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Somalia. The three themes that emerged from the conditions, meanings and reasons analysis illustrated that the older persons were trapped in various ways -without language, in fragmented families and in an unfamiliar structure. We identified these themes as The importance of the life history, Lost in language barriers and Having a national sense of belonging. The main findings emphasise the vulnerability of older migrants in a resettlement country. With an unclear national identity and without the local language, older migrants struggle to develop a clear vision of their role in a minority community in a foreign country. Besides language skills and the need for interpreters, health professionals need to consider issues such as life history, traumas and national belonging when their usual approaches to managing health-related topics have failed.