Leo Sher, M.D.

The book, “Immigration and Mental Health: Stress, Psychiatric Disorders and Suicidal Behavior among Immigrants and Refugees” edited by me and Alexander Vilens has just been published by Nova Science Publishers (New York, 2010, 349 pages).

Immigrants’ journeys to a new nation have been among the most exciting and dignified of human endeavors. Immigrants are going to a new country for the best of intensions: the wish to improve their lives; the desire to leave countries whose governments they could not tolerate; and the eagerness to work for another country where individuals can live in freedom and dignity. Immigrants are an integral part of many societies, contributing both to the economy and diversity of their new countries.

Immigration is usually very nerve-racking. Upon arrival to a new country immigrants are confronted with various stresses and adjustment problems in the receiving society. The pain, pressure and stress associated with immigration can come from all facets of life: language barriers, feeling of loneliness and marginality, homesickness, social role changes and identity crises, cultural differences, economic adversities, social discrimination and family troubles. There is a high prevalence of psychological distress among immigrants. This can lead to severe and long-lasting psychological and behavioral problems, including depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and a high risk for suicide. It has been suggested that immigrants are more likely to need psychiatric treatment than natives.

Generally, there are two opposite viewpoints of immigrants’ psychological health. The first one predicts higher psychological distress among immigrants, and the other argues that immigrants have better psychological health than natives. Some studies indicate the existence of positive migratory selection factors, i.e., the self-selection and selection effect of immigration policies motivate the mentally healthy people who can be characterized as having strong, optimistic and confident personalities, to migrate to other countries.

This book is devoted to research on immigration and mental health. The contributors to this book are the leading international experts in psychiatry, psychology and sociology. The following scholars have written chapters for this book (in alphabetical order): Luiza Beth Alonso (Brazil), Peter J. Aspinall (UK), Diana van Bergen (Netherlands), Darren Bernal (USA), Guilherme Borges (Mexico), María Dolores Braquehais Conesa (Spain), Joshua Breslau (USA), Seth Christman (USA), Sam Chun-Kang (Brazil), Odd Steffen Dalgard (Norway), Londa Daniel (Canada), Dana Galler (USA), Gerardo Gonzales (USA), Patricia Gonzalez (USA), Brian Greenfield (Canada), Bonnie Harnden (Canada), Charles E. Holzer (USA), David Kalman (USA), Sun S. Kim (USA), Arthur O. Linskey (USA), Michael G. Madianos (Greece), Lenore Manderson (Australia), Jair J. de Mari (Brazil), Liliana Mondragon (Mexico), Guerda Nicolas (USA), Barbara S. Okun (Israel), Regina Pernice (New Zealand), Alexander M. Ponizovsky (Israel), Andres J. Pumariega (USA), Ruben Quintero-Salinas (USA), Denise Razzouk (Brazil), Monica Rosales (USA), Eugenio M. Rothe (USA), Michal Sabah (Israel), Sawitri Saharso (Netherlands), Itiro Shirakawa (Brazil), Jeffrey Swanson (USA), Leo Sher (USA), Eugene Tartakovsky (Israel), Katie Vasey (Australia), Shoshana Weiss (Israel), Douglas Ziedonis (USA).