Sorrow, Trauma, and Identity Change in Times of Migration and Adaptation

(cc) Photo from Pixabay

I got to attend a very interesting seminar this afternoon. It was on stress and trauma caused by migration, transition, and adaptation to a new country. It was led by a well-known (in Sweden, at least) neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Riyadh Al-Baldawi. Al-Baldawi himself was a refugee back in the ‘80s. He came to Sweden from Iraq, fleeing the meaningless (as all wars are) Iran–Iraq war. (Interestingly, he’s happily married to an Iranian woman.)

The seminar felt useful and engaging to me not only because of my line of work, but also due to my own personal journey as an immigrant in Sweden. Of course, I didn’t have to flee a war, oppression (well, maybe just a little bit), hunger or extreme poverty. But it didn’t make the adaptation phase of my resettlement any less traumatic or challenging.

Dr. Al-Baldawi shared a few very emotional personal stories of the patients he had worked with through the years. I won’t reproduce them here, because they aren’t my stories. But they all served as illustrative examples of how sorrow, past traumas (personal or impersonal), longing for a lost home, and an identity crisis form the experience of immigrants and refugees long after their arrival in the destination country. What is often overlooked is how the transitional phase – periods of time spent in countries along the way of migration – accumulates its own traumas. Those might go deeper and inflict even more pain than the original trauma caused  by – or being a reason for, or both – fleeing one’s home country.

Seminar with Dr. Al-Baldawi, own photo

And then, once one has finally made it to their destination country, received an asylum, got their residence permit issued – then a whole other set of challenges begin. Adaptation process can be just as traumatic as the migration itself. Racism, xenophobia, structural discrimination on the labour market, loss of the previous social and/or economic status – all these things might disempower an individual and lock them in a state of isolation and passivity for years or even decades.

What can help to overcome these challenges is individual’s own resources, like level of formal education, cultural awareness, age, positive outlook on life, personal motivation, preparedness to deal with difficulties. Also one’s family situation, personal relationships, and social networks available in the new country. And, last but not least, the level of cultural and ethnic diversity in the receiving country, its flexibility, openness to newcomers and the degree of supportive reception.

This last bit made me think hard about my new home country, Sweden. It is very difficult to characterise it. Yes, there’s structural discrimination on the labour market. Yes, there’s everyday racism. Yes, the extreme nationalist party is on the rise. And still: the country has done so much in the last year and a half to accommodate over 160,000 newly arrived asylum seekers, give them safety, shelter, material support and access to education. There are thousands of volunteers dedicating their energy and free time to work with people who are new in Sweden. Like my friends at the Red Cross, some of whom were attending the seminar with me. Or my colleagues at work (who were also among the seminar’s attendees), who every single day put their heart and soul into teaching Swedish language and explaining concepts like welfare state, social security, Swedish tax system and equal rights for men and women in Sweden. It’s not all dark and hopeless, nor is it entirely light and unproblematic. There are all kinds of grey in-between (I didn’t want to use the word ‘shades’ here). Such is life.

Seminar with Dr. Al-Baldawi, own photo

One interesting take-away from the seminar for me was the idea that having a job doesn’t automatically mean successful integration. The economic integration is not the same as the social or cultural one. I could really feel the truth of this statement, although I had never reflected on it in these terms before. I mean, I have worked or studied for most of the past ten years since I came to Sweden. I am following Swedish politics (and was involved in it in the past) and I am interested in debates on major social and economic issues. Economic integration – check. Social – check. However, it’s been a long time since I picked a book in Swedish, written by a Swedish author. I don’t listen to Swedish music all that often. I would struggle if I had to name famous Swedish TV personalities or popular household names. Most of my cultural consumption – books, TV, movies, music – comes via English. So culturally I am more poorly integrated in the Swedish society than I am socially or economically.

Seminar with Dr. Al-Baldawi, own photo

The great irony of this post is that I stayed home in order to write it down. Instead of going to a residence centre for refugee kids, to help them with their school work, as I usually do on Monday evenings. And now I have a bad conscience about it. :-/