Paper short abstract:

This study aims to understand the health seeking behaviour of Bangladeshi migrants for their treatment of mental illness in the UK. The findings of this study demonstrated that health seeking behaviour is diversified.

Paper long abstract:

The focus of this study is to understand how Bangladeshi migrants seek treatment for mental illness in Eastbourne, UK. Data of this study was collected virtually by online semi-structured interviews using Facebook messenger and What's App video calls. Bangladeshi migrants came in the UK voluntarily for economic or family reasons and their descendants continued to live in the UK. The practice of medical pluralism transfers from Bangladesh to the UK through first generation. This kind of medical pluralism transfers again from first generation to second-generation. Although first and second-generation Bangladeshi migrants are accepting UK psychiatric care, they also practice traditional healing simultaneously which is a common practice in their country of origin especially in the case of mental illnesses. This article argued that the health-seeking behaviour is not strictly biomedical; it is in many ways religious or to some extent social what first and second-generation Bangladeshi migrants practice for their treatment of mental illness. This article also demonstrated that Bangladeshi migrants seek diversified ways of treatment for their mental illness as they cannot rely on single way of treatment pattern in this unwell world.

Key Words: Bangladeshi migrants, mental illness, first generation, second-generation, medical pluralism