Immigration and Mental Health The Iranian Experience

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Immigration and
  Mental Health
The Iranian Experience



Some of the literature in the field of psychology and migration points to the immigration experience as having an influence on the mental health of Iranian-Americans. A study done by Bozorgmehr and Sabagh in 1987 attempted to determine the most important reasons Iranians immigrate to the United States. They found that 70% of the Iranian-Americans who identified themselves as exiles (people who left Iran against their will with the intention of returning) in their study indicated the Islamic Revolution, political persecution, and the Iran-Iraq war as reasons for leaving Iran. Of those who identified themselves as immigrants (people who left Iran with the intention of remaining in the U.S.), 66% identified these same reasons for leaving Iran. Regardless of the intention of the individual, it appears the Islamic Revolution, and the aftermath of war and persecution that resulted, is key to the immigration of many Iranians to the United States.
Migration, in general, is stressful and places the migrants at a higher risk for physical and mental health problems. For Iranians, the stress experienced as immigrants is intensified because culturally they have a history of dealing with the threat of permanent displacement from their country of origin, and have successfully avoided doing so. Persian history illustrates that the Iranian people have often been conquered and influenced by different cultures, races, and religions. Value is placed in their ability to tolerate their conquerors and the persecution that was inflicted upon them without leaving their native land. Persian literature illustrates the distaste for living in exile experienced in this culture. Many Iranian poets and scholars speak of exile. Living in exile is referred to as “imprisonment,” and “between life and death.” Living in an unfamiliar host country is viewed as “Un-welcome here and un-wanted there…physically here, mentally there.”
For the Iranian, immigrating is an experience that is felt deeply and with reluctance, which may potentially affect the mental well being of Iranian-Americans.
Studies have found that Iranian Americans who are more acculturated display higher levels of mental health. Also correlated with higher levels of mental health is age, with younger Iranian Americans reporting significantly better mental health. Level of education and length of residence in the United States correlated positively with level of acculturation and mental health: the more education obtained and/or the longer the individual resided in the United States, the more likely that individual is to be highly acculturated and experience fewer mental health problems. Similarly, a 2004 study examined self-reported health among immigrants from Iran, Turkey, and Poland in Sweden. A significant relationship was found between poor self reported health and acculturation and experiences of discrimination.
At the same time accessing mental health services is often viewed as taboo for newly immigrated Iranians. As a result, many of the people who need additional support and treatment to better cope with the inherent stressors of immigranting are not getting the help they need. This pattern, not uncommon to other ethnic and cultural minority groups, may lead to the exacerbation and intensification of mental health issues for immigrants.
The Iranian-American population has grown substantially in the United States over the last two decades. By the late 1980s, the Iranian population in Los Angeles alone was estimated to be between 200,000 and 400,000 people. Recent estimates contend that out of 1 million Iranians residing in the United States, as of 1998, 600,000 of them live in Southern California. The growing number of Iranian Americans in the U.S. increases the likelihood of psychologists providing services to this population.  Yet, the research that addresses the mental health needs of this population remains limited. Literature that addresses the psychological assessment of this population, specifically, is even bleaker.
As such, the immigrant population is an “at-risk” population who needs special attention from the mental health field. One avenue to achieve this is for more ethnic and cultural minorities to enter the field of mental health so that the concerns of these populations can be better understood  and property assessed by professionals in the field.

For further reading:
Ghaffarian, S. (1998). The acculturation of Iranian immigrants in the United States and the implications for mental health. The Journal of Social Psychology, 138(5), 645-654.

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