The Long-Term Effects of Historical Trauma

4043 Words17 Pages
George, M. (2010). A Theoretical Understanding of Refugee Trauma. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 38, 379-387. George broadens the scope of theoretical knowledge about the trauma on refugees by incorporating various theories including post-colonial, trauma and feminist which all emphasize that refugee trauma is a direct result of multiple historical, social and political constraints. George goes on to describe refugee trauma, stating that it is immeasurable, long lasting and shattering to both a refugees inner and outer selves. Since there is large scale migration all over the world, categorizing refugees has gained more notoriety with researchers. According to this research article, the settlement patterns of most refugees conform to two kinetic subtypes; anticipatory refugee movement and acute refugee movement. Anticipatory refugee’s sense danger early, allowing time for departure before a crisis occurs, while acute refugee movements on the other hand are responses to being instantly pushed from ones homeland. There has been a number of large scale studies conducted on the physical and psychological effects of refugees, but the authors theoretical framework throughout this article gives a perspective on trauma that links long term control of a person’s body and the psychological and social consequences of that. Refugees are the uprooted and suffer losses which include social identity, home, family, livelihood, and support systems. Combining multiple theories proposed a more comprehensive framework and promotes a better understanding for service providers such as physicians and therapists in the unique concepts related to the traumatic experiences. The overall goal and theme throughout this article was to emphasize the importance of understanding all different aspects of refugee trauma such as the social, medical, political and historical backgrounds of its
Open Document