ABSTRACT
Many immigrants have psychological difficulties which do not usually result in admission to hospital: the depressions and anxieties caused by settling in a new country, the frustrations and loneliness induced by racism and the inevitable clash of values. Such difficulties are usually regarded, not as mental illnesses, but as problems of adaptation-problems which require social and political action rather than the intervention of psychiatrists or psychologists. The experience and perception of mental illness are, however, invariably bound up with cultural and political assumptions and, at the same time, poverty, disadvantage, cultural change and the tensions between generations take their toll of the individual’s mental health. There is a fair amount of ‘hard’ data on such questions as hospital admission or unemployment, but we have little information on life satisfaction or general well-being. This is partly because of their elusive nature. It is difficult to conduct a conventional survey to look at them and the doctor can usually find out more from the novels and poetry written by members of other ethnic groups and by living and working together with them.
