Migration and Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Case Study on Stress and Adaptation Among Minangkabau Migrants

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_24How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Adjustment Disorder; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; SSRI; Anxiety; Depression

Abstract

Background: Adjustment disorder is a common psychiatric condition frequently encountered in individuals undergoing significant life changes, such as migration. Primary treatment modalities include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and pharmacological therapy, particularly with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). Robust evidence is needed to compare the effectiveness of these two approaches.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of CBT versus pharmacological therapy in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression in adult patients with adjustment disorder.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the PubMed, Cochrane, and PsycINFO databases. The primary study for analysis was the systematic review by O’Donnell et al. (2018).

Results: The systematic review, which analyzed 29 studies (including 12 RCTs), showed that CBT was significantly effective in alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression. A meta-analysis of five studies (n=479) reported a pooled effect size (SMD) of 0.65 (95% CI: 0.41-0.89). Pharmacotherapy was also effective, but with a higher risk of side effects. The combination of CBT and pharmacotherapy yielded superior results.

Conclusion: CBT is recommended as the first-line treatment for mild to moderate adjustment disorder. Pharmacotherapy can be considered if symptoms are severe or access to psychological services is limited.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Mikail Nadjmir
AU  - Nazli Mahdinasari Nasution
AU  - Elmeida Effendy
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/25
TI  - Migration and Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Case Study on Stress and Adaptation Among Minangkabau Migrants
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Neuroscience, Neurology, and Psychiatry 2025 (ICONAP 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 161
EP  - 170
SN  - 2468-5739
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_24
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_24
ID  - Nadjmir2025
ER  -