Publications

Recent evidence confirms that the mental health burden among refugees in Germany is alarmingly high: a large cross-sectional study found PTSD symptoms in 29.9 per cent and depressive symptoms in 39.8 per cent of adolescent and young adult refugees (Potter et al., 2024). Similarly, a nationwide study of asylum seekers reported that fewer than one in seven individuals with mental health needs received minimally adequate psychotherapy, highlighting a critical gap in care provision (Dumke et al., 2024). Post-migration stressors amplify this distress. Legal uncertainty, prolonged asylum procedures, and substandard collective accommodation are closely associated with depression and PTSD. 

Mental health continues to be insufficiently prioritised within Germany’s asylum and integration policy frameworks (BAfF, 2023). Without long-term, embedded funding, integrated into health and social budgets, rather than ad hoc project grants, necessary reforms cannot be sustained or properly evaluated. The alternative is far more costly: Untreated trauma increases demand for emergency healthcare, unemployment and failed integration. Studies suggest that every euro invested in early psychosocial support can save up to three euros in long-term costs. A proactive, forward-looking funding strategy is therefore not only more humane, but also economically prudent.