Salvation and damnation in Lampedusa. A critical analysis of migration and mental health policies in Italy for migrants from Africa

More than 40,000 people come to Italy across the Sicilian Sea every year, making our country a sort of entrance door to Europe from Africa. Nevertheless, mental health of immigrant/refugees Italy is far from being framed in a national policy, and cultural competence in health services in generally underrepresented. On the other side, much is written and discussed in Italy on the socio-cultural consequences of migration policy, with the media representing the dramatic scenario of life-threatening events occurring in the Sicily sea, and the political debate dividing the whole country in two groups, those who perceive migration from Africa as a sort of invasion to repel, and those who cannot help rescuing and accommodate people in danger and despair, even when shelters are collapsing. The authors provide a critical analysis of the migration dynamics from Africa to Italy, and its consequences from an anthropological sociological and clinical perspective, presenting an historical analysis of the services structured so far and highlighting those contradictions in providing mental health connected to the sociocultural ambivalence towards migration in Italy.