Within the relatively large body of research relating to mental health problems in refugee and asylum seeker populations, studies measuring incidence of psychoses are relatively rare. The literature has focused more broadly on the relationship between migration and psychoses, finding an increased incidence of psychoses (specifically schizophrenia) in migrant populations across the generations. Explanatory models have thus far focused on post-migratory factors, largely ignoring pre- and peri-migratory factors. This review specifically highlights those studies relating to psychosis in refugee and asylum seeker populations. Although many of these involve small and sometimes specific populations, the fact that all of them show increased incidence of psychoses than would otherwise be expected is noteworthy. In direct contrast to the literature relating to migration, the role of pre-migratory factors such as trauma seems particularly salient. Some biological, psychological and cultural models are presented.

Popular accounts of British history written around 1900 are very different from those written around 2000. There is no comprehensive study of the nature of this change. The popular narrative of England/Britain has been shaped by the nation’s role in the world, by contemporary historiographical approaches, and the different ways the British have thought about themselves and their nation. Popular, single author comprehensive syntheses of national history reveal assumptions about the character of the nation and the sort of stories that could convincingly be written about it at different times. These works are examined along with interviews of surviving historians and an examination of personal papers and publishers’ archives where possible. Under the impact of war, decolonisation, British nationalisms, the rise of social history and a new self-consciousness in historiography British history has become less Anglo-centric and the Empire is no longer central to the narrative. Historians integrated social and economic history more into their accounts. They were writing narratives that were more tentative, making the existence of multiple stories more explicit, providing more interpretation and attention to the significance of events. The accounts were less masculine but not much less white. Authors of popular British history were still predominantly white Oxbridge educated men. At the end of the century historians wrote livelier histories that were beginning to exploit media other than print. The narrative was less confident in its conclusion, but historians still asserted their belief in the value of British national history.

This thesis examines the bureaucratic controls designed to restrict the entry of migrants perceived to be ‘mentally ill’ into New Zealand and Australia in the period between the 1830s and 1920s. It is the first study to analyse the evolution of these practices in this region and timeframe. It addresses a gap in the current literature because it explores the tensions that emerged when officials tried to implement government policy. This study sheds new light on the actions, motivations and ideologies of the British and Australasian officials who were responsible for managing and policing immigration. While there were attempts to coordinate the work of border officials, this proved very difficult to achieve in practice: some immigration controllers were, for instance, receptive to the theories that were coming out of international debates about border control, others retained a parochial perspective. The thesis argues that every attempt to systematise border management failed. The regulation of the broad spectrum of ‘mental illness’ was a messy affair: officials struggled with ill-defined terminology and a lack of practical instructions so tensions and misunderstandings existed across local, national and metropolitan levels. Based on extensive research in British, New Zealand and Australian archives, this study reveals the barriers that were created to prevent those deemed ‘mentally ill’ from migrating to regions imagined as ‘Greater Britain’. It shows how judgements about an individual’s state of mind were made in a number of locales: in Britain; on the voyage itself; and at the Australasian borders. This thesis, by exploring the disordered nature of immigration control, will add a new perspective to the existing scholarship on transnational immigration legislation and Australasian asylum studies. The in-depth examination of border control systems also contributes to our understanding of the links between migration and illness in the British world during this period.