German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has warned that around 30 percent of asylum seekers arriving in Germany suffer from serious mental illnesses, with many experiencing psychotic disorders that could lead to violent behavior.
Instead of advocating for stricter immigration policies to bar entry to those deemed dangerous, Lauterbach is pushing for a major reform of the country’s mental healthcare system to expand treatment for asylum seekers requiring psychological treatment.
“We have a problem. It can’t go on like this,” Lauterbach said in an interview with Stern TV, acknowledging that many of these individuals struggle with the effects of trauma from war and displacement.
“Germany has a security risk. Many people who come to us after experiencing war and refuge develop serious mental illnesses and are therefore often a danger to themselves and others.
“Without therapy, nobody can deny that they represent a threat,” he added.
Germany is bringing in hundreds of thousands of "psychologically ill" migrants.
"87% of refugees have had experiences that can trigger trauma. And in 30% of cases, this actually leads to mental illness."
It's costing lives.
Nearly every time a child is murdered or a… pic.twitter.com/iOF0SIkMj9
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 28, 2025His remarks come in the wake of a brutal knife attack in Aschaffenburg, where an Afghan refugee, reportedly suffering from severe psychological distress, killed a 2-year-old child and a 41-year-old man who tried to intervene in the attack on a group of kindergarten children.
It was the latest in a long line of attacks by foreigners, following other fatal stabbing attacks in Solingen and Mannheim, and the devastating attack by a Saudi national who drove a vehicle into the Magdeburg Christmas market last month.
Lauterbach is now calling for a fundamental shift in how Germany treats those arriving from countries like Syria and Afghanistan. Instead of leaving them untreated — or advocating for deportation — he is proposing a new initiative to expand access to psychiatric care. His plan includes setting up “special branches for doctors and psychotherapists who treat exactly these sick and other particularly neglected patients.”
As reported by the Berliner Morgenpost, the initiative is set for discussion in the Federal Council in February. The proposed regulation would create “targeted and low-threshold additional outpatient psychotherapeutic and psychiatric treatment capacities” for asylum seekers, the homeless, and individuals with criminal records or drug dependencies. These new treatment providers would be required to work closely with addiction support services, crisis intervention teams, and other facilities to provide comprehensive care.
The health minister made it clear that mental illness among asylum seekers “should not be a taboo topic.” He stressed that these conditions must be both diagnosed and treated, saying, “We have to do that.” However, Lauterbach did not provide specific details on how to implement the reforms at scale, given nearly 2 million people immigrated to Germany in 2023 — the second-highest level since 2016.
His proposal has drawn criticism from the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), which argues that the real issue is bureaucratic hurdles preventing doctors from expanding mental health services — not the lack of authorization to treat these groups. The association warned that Germany’s ongoing shortage of skilled healthcare workers could prevent Lauterbach’s plan from being implemented effectively.
Meanwhile, Germany’s mental health system is already struggling with severe backlogs for German citizens. A review of over 300,000 insurance records from 2019 found that 40 percent of patients had to wait between three and nine months for a therapy appointment, even after receiving an initial diagnosis.
Critics argue the supply simply does not exist to roll out sweeping reforms to assist record numbers of asylum seekers entering the country. Psychiatric detention facilities in Berlin and Brandenburg are critically overcrowded, with a severe shortage of trained staff and available space.
Meanwhile, opposition parties expected to top the polls in next month’s federal elections are calling for swifter deportations and more restrictive border controls to tackle the national security risk posed by asylum seekers.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel called for “remigration now” in the wake of the Aschaffenburg attack, while the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) plans to table motions to reform the country’s asylum and immigration policies later this week.
