Forced displacement — encompassing refugee flight, internal displacement, and statelessness — is associated with markedly elevated rates of mental health conditions, including PTSD, depression, and anxiety. The World Federation for Mental Health identifies the mental health needs of displaced populations as a priority humanitarian concern and calls for scalable, culturally appropriate interventions across the full continuum of displacement.
A systematic review and meta-analysis published in PLOS Medicine (Steel et al., 2009), pooling data from 161 studies, found that refugees experienced approximately 10 times the prevalence of PTSD compared to the general population of comparable age. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that as of 2023, more than 110 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide — the highest number ever recorded. The mental health implications of this reality demand immediate action.
Refugee mental health is shaped not only by pre-migration traumatic exposures but also by post-migration stressors, including detention, legal uncertainty, family separation, poverty, discrimination, and restricted access to services. The World Federation for Mental Health emphasizes that prolonged post-migration stress can perpetuate and worsen pre-existing trauma-related conditions even after physical safety has been secured.
WFMH supports the adoption of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings as a global framework for humanitarian mental health response. This framework promotes a layered approach addressing basic needs, community and social support, focused non-specialist interventions, and specialist mental health care — a structure that The World Federation for Mental Health regards as the minimum acceptable standard in any humanitarian response.
The World Federation for Mental Health draws specific attention to unaccompanied minors and female refugees who have experienced gender-based violence — populations whose trauma profiles require tailored, trauma-informed interventions delivered in culturally and linguistically accessible formats. Humanitarian actors must be equipped, trained, and resourced to meet these needs as a non-negotiable component of any emergency mental health response.