Mental Health and Immigrants: The Cost of In-hospitality or even Indifference

ASCAPAP 2019 with Prof Say How Ong
IACAPAP 2020 Organising Chair

Here is a clear insight, or let's say very strong hypothesis:

What happens with immigrants who:

1-according to many psychiatric epidemiological studies, are at a substantial higher risk of ill mental health when compared to populations from their countries of origin (much moderated when immigrants live in areas with higher densities of people from their original cultures? )

AND

2-in the first generation (foreign born, immigration as adults) are however at substantial lower risk of mental ill health when compared to same population of origin 2nd generation immigrants (US born) or even what is referred to as the 1.5 generation (Foreign born, immigration as children)-The so called Immigration Paradox?

This is a profoundly well data-ed topic in psychiatric epidemiology and many angles have been examined.

In general, studies and replications point to issues which differ, on average,  in non-immigrants vs. adult immigrants vs. child immigrants vs. children of immigrants.

When I was in Thailand last week, I traveled with my wonderful fellow Natchanan, a very communicative human being.

What I observed is that she was not different in Thailand than the person I knew her to be in the United States.

She was seeking engagement with people around her including strangers for a number of reasons: Where is W? what time is X? which way to Y? how much is Z?

What was very different was the average consequence of this engagement effort. In her country of birth, I was witnessing a living current of reciprocity whereby the average person was engaging back immediately and enthusiastically. Each bid for attention, each request was generally met with an attuned attentive answer.

This brought me back to my experience of immigration to the USA at 20 and how isolating the experience was. I became quickly aware that thriving would demand building of connections, so this idea that connections are vital is nothing new.

What is a little new, for me, is this clear observation and hypothesis of the cumulative toll of over and over repeated failed or suboptimal engagement that happens to the immigrant brain. Which does not happen if surrounded by familiar cultural scaffolding coming with (an entire family especially if large and well connected) or happens sometimes in horrendous and traumatic fashion as for case with the 2000 kids per day held in Border Patrol facilities in the USA.

For this particular 1.5 generation, the physical conditions are terrible and the neuro-environment is in my opinion even more damaging, particularly for human beings at a peak of sensitivity to environmental factors as children are compared to adults.

Even in non horrendous physical conditions: It is cumulatively damaging to be met with indifference or surprise or perplexity or hostility or a lack of understanding (the toll for minorities of all kinds) and when a positive response would occur in native settings (the toll for many immigrants in particular.)

So why am I writing this?
The UK has appointed a minister for loneliness.
Vivek Murthy, a former US Surgeon General (2014-17) has declared that loneliness is an epidemic
Many other countries' governments share similar concerns.

I'm writing this to remind us to practice:

1-Connecting including with those not in our "cliques";

2-Observing others and their connections' efforts which might come in shapes or ways unfamiliar to us;

3-Observe when we reject others and pretend they do not exist for whatever reason we think is justified (we are wired to do that as humans-the us versus them behavior is well rooted in most primates) and not let ourselves get away with that.

Here is to connections and good mental health.

Love,

Anne