The island of Nauru, where an Australian refugee processing center is located, is suffering from extremely high rates of mental illness among both detainees and the local population, a report by humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders or MSF) said.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2018) The island of Nauru, where an Australian refugee processing center is located, is suffering from extremely high rates of mental illness among both detainees and the local population, a report by humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders or MSF) said."Close to one-third of MSF's refugee and asylum seeker patients attempted suicide, while 12 percent were diagnosed with the rare psychiatric condition of 'resignation syndrome'. Nauruan nationals also had high levels of severe mental illness; almost half of MSF's Nauruan patients needed treatment for psychosis," the report, issued on Sunday, read.
According to the report, during its 11 months on the island, MSF provided 285 initial mental health assessments and 1,847 follow-up sessions to 285 patients, 73 percent of whom were refugees or asylum-seekers, while 22 percent were Nauruan nationals. MSF's patients were between the ages of 1 and 74 � 19 percent were aged below 18. Women made up 157 out of the 285 patients.
The NGO added that Iranians made up the largest group of patients (76 percent), followed by Somalis (5 percent) and Burmese (3 percent).
"Among the 208 refugees and asylum seekers MSF treated in Nauru, 124 patients (60 percent) had suicidal thoughts and 63 patients (30 percent) attempted suicide. Children as young as 9 were found to have suicidal thoughts, committed acts of self-harm or attempted suicide," the report said.
The report indicated that among the asylum-seeker and refugee patients 75 percent had experienced traumatic events in their country of origin, while 11 percent faced violence from the immigration authorities and Australian Border Force, but "it was the indefinite nature of the Australian government policy that was among the main stressors in their lives."
"The issue of 'indefiniteness' - that there is no timeframe for the detention process - has a strong impact on my patient's mental health. They tell me that even prisoners have a sentence... So they fear for the future, they are completely hopeless," an MSF psychiatrist was quoted as saying in the report.
MSF pointed out that 47 percent of Nauruan nationals had psychosis, while 16 percent had severe depression. Ninety-five percent of the local patients were recommended for follow-up treatment due to the severity of their illnesses.
From November 2017 to October 2018, MSF provided free psychiatric and psychological treatment to people on Nauru under an agreement with the island nation's Ministry of Health. After the extreme psychological conditions of the patients were discovered, the Nauruan government forced MSF to leave the island within 24 hours, saying that the services were "no longer required."
The Nauru Regional Processing Centre is an offshore Australian immigration detention facility. Australia sends asylum seekers who reach the country by boat to the facility while their cases are investigated. Some of the detainees have been at the center since 2014.
