Session: MIGRANT MENTAL HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE UTILIZATION
The session is organised as a part of the ESHMS 2026 Conference in Hamburg (19-21 August 2026). Submission deadline is February 15th, 2026.
Detailed information about the conference and registration can be found here.
Session organisers
Prof. dr. Veerle Buffel; Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB); BRISPO (Brussels Institute for Research and Population Studies); Department of Sociology; Veerle.Buffel@Vub.be
PhD student Tulya Su Guven; Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB); BRISPO (Brussels Institute for Research and Population Studies); Department of Sociology; Tulya.Su.Guven@Vub.be
PhD student Amina Yakhlaf; Joint PhD of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and University of Antwerp; Center for Population, Family and Health (CPFH); Department of Sociology; Amina.Yakhlaf@uantwerpen.be
Keywords
Mental health, mental health care use, migrations, stressors, liminality
Description
Migration is a profoundly transformative process that exposes individuals to multiple forms of uncertainty —legal, social, temporal, and existential. For newly arrived migrants, these uncertainties are not temporary disruptions but often prolonged states of liminality (Turner, 1969): a “betwixt and between” condition in which individuals are suspended between past and future, belonging and exclusion. Liminality, in this sense, captures the transitional nature of migration, highlighting how individuals occupy a social and psychological threshold between established statuses and identities. In many cases, migrants experience a state of limbo —a protracted, semi-permanent form of liminality characterized by ambiguous legal status, unstable employment and housing, disrupted social roles,
and the challenge of rebuilding social networks (Menjívar, 2006). This combined liminal-limbo condition can have profound effects on mental health and access to care (Bhugra, 2004; Côté-Olijnyk, et al. 2024).
This session explores how liminality and uncertainty jointly shape mental health outcomes and unmet mental health care needs among migrants, refugees, and other newly arrived populations. We bring together Turner's concept of liminality and the state of limbo with the social stress process model (Pearlin, 1981), which conceptualizes stress as a process linking structural strain, exposure to stressors, and available coping resources. From this perspective, uncertainty functions both as a structural stressor—produced by precarious institutional contexts and restrictive migration regimes—and as an existential stressor, reflected in disrupted life meaning, identity instability, and social exclusion.
The session invites both theoretical and empirical contributions that deepen our understanding of how uncertainty and liminality affect migrants’ mental health and care trajectories. We particularly welcome three types of contributions:
- Methodological papers addressing how to assess and measure mental health and unmet mental health needs in diverse and mobile populations. This may include discussions of cultural validity, linguistic adaptation, sampling challenges, or the integration of administrative, longitudinal, and qualitative data sources.
- Empirical papers examining how different forms of uncertainty (e.g., legal, economic, temporal, or social) influence mental health outcomes across various migrant groups and receiving contexts. Studies that link individual experiences to macro-level structures—such as asylum procedures, welfare regimes, or social norms—are especially encouraged.
- Studies on barriers and facilitators in accessing mental health care among migrants and in particular newcomers. This includes analyses of institutional responsiveness, informal support networks, cultural conceptions of distress, and experiences of stigma, discrimination, or exclusion in care systems.
By combining these perspectives, the session seeks to advance sociological and interdisciplinary dialogue on how uncertainty manifests in migrants’ lived experiences, health inequalities, and patterns of care utilization. We aim to stimulate a broader reflection on how medical sociology can reconceptualize liminality and uncertainty as central social determinants of health, and how these insights can inform more inclusive and adaptive health systems in Europe and beyond.
We particularly invite comparative and mixed-method studies that bridge sociological theory with public health, anthropology, and psychology. The session will offer a forum for researchers to discuss conceptual, methodological, and policy-relevant approaches to understanding and addressing mental health in times of uncertainty.
References
- Bhugra, D. (2004), Migration and mental health. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 109: 243-258. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0001-690X.2003.00246.x
- Côté-Olijnyk, M. J., et al. (2024) The mental health of migrants living in limbo: A mixed-methods systematic review with meta-analysis, Psychiatry Research, 337, 2024, 115931, ISSN 0165-1781, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2024.115931.
- Menjívar, C. (2006). Liminal legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants’ lives in the United States. American Journal of Sociology, 111(4), 999–1037. https://doi.org/10.1086/499509
- Pearlin, L. I., Menaghan, E. G., Lieberman, M. A., & Mullan, J. T. (1981). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22(4), 337–356. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136676
- Thomassen, B. (2014). Liminality and the modern: Living through the in-between. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
- Turner, V. (1967). Betwixt and between: The liminal period in rites de passage. In M. Banton (Ed.), The forest of symbols: Aspects of Ndembu ritual (pp. 93–111). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
