ABSTRACT
Societal oppression has numerous effects as a context of trying to engage in life, and includes stress, depression, chronic worry about everything, racism, and violence. The links between mental health behaviours and societal oppressions are mixed in with effects that have nothing to do with mental health directly, including physical health. Women's mental health 'explained' as a problem because it is said that women focus and even obsess about their looks and attractiveness. The chapter explores some different contexts in which people with a background as a refugee live, and which have commonly been associated with mental health issues. But the measures of inequality were broad and the measures of mental health were all standardized DSM questionnaires or interviews. The stressors leading to 'mental health symptoms' were related to living in a new and often very different society with different practices.
