Refugee family trauma

• Main Author: Dragana Batic
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje 2017-12-01
• Series: Bezbednosni Dijalozi
• Subjects: refugee family; traumatization; stressors; functional family
• Online Access: http://periodica.fzf.ukim.edu.mk/sd/SD%2008.2%20(2017)/SD%2008.2.09%20Batic,%20D.%20-%20Refugee%20family%20trauma.pdf

The study of family crisis and the crisis in general, begins at the time of social and economic disaster in the USA, through the Second World War, the Vietnam War, the Arab-Israeli war, and continue with societal conditions in countries with increased repression and poverty, leading to mass migration, refugee crisis, and claims of political asylum. These events prompted the research of the effects stress has on families. The war in the former Yugoslavia motivated researches that relate to the individual and family reactions to the stress. Lately, with the refugee crisis, these topics are reopened. The traumatized family is defined as a family exposed to a stressor, consequently getting unwanted disruption of its life routine. Refugee families are faced with numerous stressors such as exposure to threats, violence, fear for their lives, and the safety of their loved ones. In other countries, they face chronic stressors such as poor housing, poor nutrition, economic dependence, social marginalization, social stigmatization, forced change of lifestyles, acculturation. The separation of home and community and living in a new and unfamiliar environment brings profound uncertainty, confusion, vulnerability, fear, and mistrust. The new way of life affects everyone individually and brings new changes in the family dynamic. This paper attempts to find a link between the trauma of family members that have been affected by the war and refuge and the family characteristics. It is also an attempt to give an answer to the question of whether or not it’s possible to retain the basic family function, raising the child, and his personality development.