Over 600 Greek patients have been recently registered at the outpatient departments for mental health of the municipal Humboldt clinic in Berlin, Vitenau district, which are monitoring their condition.
Three out of four of them had migrated to Germany after 2010. Chased away by the crisis that hit Greece, they have gone in search of a better life there but this endeavour is not always successful.
More than a few remain unemployed for a long time or become victims of exploitation by working without a contract, for a nominal pay, under terrible conditions that often resemble modern slavery.
Under these conditions, some end up taking antidepressants and undergoing psychoanalysis. Greeks represent 15% of patients attending outpatient departments for mental health of the municipal Humboldt clinic, which report on the condition of nearly half of all mentally ill in Berlin.
As explained to the newspaper Ethnos by Despina Papadimitriou, a psychologist at one of the outpatient departments, Greek patients have problems similar to people fleeing the war. "Refugees fleeing the war present similar symptoms. They are suffering from post-traumatic syndrome, which results in depression, phobias, panic disorders and neuroses", she says, adding, "This happens because most of them have experienced forced migration, perceiving it as forcible exile and arriving in Germany with a heavy heart, not at their own choice. They are so pressed by need that many of them are even unable to prepare to migrate. They arrive not speaking the language and even facing racism."
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