Offshore detention makes it 20 times more likely asylum seekers will suffer PTSD, Australian study finds

Australia holds up to 100 people in immigration detention on Nauru. A UNSW study shows asylum seekers and refugees held offshore face a far greater likelihood of suffering PTSD. Photograph: mtcurado/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Asylum seekers detained offshore face a 20-times greater risk of post-traumatic disorder than someone who is not detained or held onshore for less than six months, new research from the University of New South Wales has found.

In a letter to the editor published in the British Journal of Psychiatry on Tuesday, researchers detailed a study that surveyed 990 adult refugees and asylum seekers living in the Australian community between 2011 and 2018. Of those, 215 had spent some time in detention.