Problems
Stereotypes
Host Countries Perceived Attitudes
Trauma
Acculturation
Lack of Professionals in this field
- Social stigmas of migrants is reinforced through media, social institutions and day to day interactions
- Stigmas create discrimination towards the migrants, such as inequality, that undermine trust and reduce opportunities for interpersonal interactions between migrants and urban residents.
Host Countries Perceived Attitudes
- Germans are sometimes opposed to the refugees entering their land because they feel a sense of threat, whether it be economically, socially, etc
- Evolutionarily, the brain is primed for specific threats that would have loomed over our earliest relatives, such as dangers to physical safety, infectious disease and threats to resources.
- Immigrants looking for a better life, can trigger automatic responses to these ancestral threats amongst the Germans. Syrian refugees can be viewed as a posed threat to those already settled in Germany and other host countries.
Trauma
- Traumatic experiences place immigrants at risk for mental health problems, including depression and anxiety disorders, particularly PTSD. Such experiences can occur at various stages in the immigration process and may include substandard living conditions, unemployment, low self-esteem, poor physical health, community violence, and lack of social support. Any of these traumatic events can affect the ways in which immigrants adjust to their new cultural context.
- 1 in every 5 children who are Syrian refugees are suffering from PTSD.
- Depression, sleep disorders and chronic psychotic illnesses are common as well amongst children.
Acculturation
- Acculturation, a multidimensional process, involves changes in many aspects of immigrants’ lives, including language, cultural and ethnic identity, attitudes and values, social customs and relations, gender roles, types of food and music preferred, and media use. They often feel pressure to conform.
- Psychological acculturation refers to the dynamic process that begins when immigrants enter a new country and begin to adapt to its culture. This is a process that gradually happens but can be a problem if the individual
- Acculturation is thought to affect health by impacting levels of stress, access to health resources, and attitudes towards health.
- A problem that arises is inter-generational conflicts in immigrant households, since there is often an acculturation gap between parents and children. Immigrant children behaviorally adapt to a new culture quickly. Adolescents in particular are exposed to the host country's culture through movies, music, television, and many other electronic outlets. As immigrant parents and children increasingly live in different cultural worlds, conflicts result, including verbal arguments between parents and children regarding friendships, dating, marriage, gender roles, and career choices.
Lack of Professionals in this field
- Germany lacks professionals trained in trauma therapy.
- The number of experts who are familiar with this specialized, sensitive field is limited.