Despite elevated rates of psychological disorders amongst individuals from a refugee background, levels of mental health help-seeking in these populations are low. There is an urgent need to understand the key barriers that prevent refugees and asylum-seekers from accessing help for psychological symptoms. This review synthesises literature examining perceptions of mental health and barriers to mental health help-seeking in individuals from a refugee background. Our analysis, which complies with PRISMA reporting guidelines, identified 62 relevant studies. Data extraction and thematic analytic techniques were used to synthesise findings from quantitative (n = 26) and qualitative (n = 40) studies. We found that the salient barriers to help-seeking were: (a) cultural barriers, including mental health stigma and knowledge of dominant models of mental health; (b) structural barriers, including financial strain, language proficiency, unstable accommodation, and a lack of understanding of how to access services, and (c) barriers specific to the refugee experience, including immigration status, a lack of trust in authority figures and concerns about confidentiality. We discuss and contextualise these key themes and consider how these findings can inform the development of policies and programs to increase treatment uptake and ultimately reduce the mental health burden amongst refugees and asylum-seekers.

尽管来自难民背景的人的心理疾病发生率升高，但这些人群中寻求心理健康帮助的水平仍然很低。迫切需要了解阻碍难民和寻求庇护者获得心理症状帮助的主要障碍。这篇综述综合了文献，考察了来自难民背景的人对心理健康的看法以及心理健康寻求帮助的障碍。我们的分析符合PRISMA的报告指南，确定了62项相关研究。数据提取和主题分析技术用于综合定量（n  = 26）和定性（n = 40）研究。我们发现寻求帮助的主要障碍是：（a）文化障碍，包括心理健康的污名和对心理健康的主要模式的了解；（b）结构性障碍，包括资金紧张，语言能力，住宿条件不稳定，以及对如何获得服务的了解不足；（c）特定于难民经历的障碍，包括移民身份，对权威人士的信任和有关机密性的担忧。我们讨论了这些关键主题并将其具体化，并考虑了这些发现如何为制定政策和计划提供信息，以增加治疗的接受率并最终减轻难民和寻求庇护者的心理健康负担。