Feel Like Your ADHD Meds Arent Working? Before the theoretical analysis of why Resignation Syndrome exists solely in Sweden, it is critical to highlight the general information about the syndrome, including its symptoms, the profiles of the individuals it affects, and if any treatments are available. Traumatic withdrawal has been seen in groups of asylum seeker and refugee children in European settings where families lack protection and resettlement options. Swedens Mystery Illness: Resignation Syndrome. Doctors of the World. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. [20] While there is not enough research to argue that this cultural policy shift in Sweden definitively explains why Resignation Syndrome exists solely in Sweden, it is more probable than the other hypotheses put forth. Resignation Syndrome was first reported in Sweden in the late 1990s. Called Resignation Syndrome, it affects only the children of asylum-seekers, who withdraw completely, ceasing to walk or talk, or open their eyes. With government wanting to maintain policies to deter asylum seekers and prevent entry to Australia, theyre seemingly accepting harm done to those in limbo. Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. She tells Bustle that it develops "as a response to situations of extreme stress and trauma where children feel powerless and essentially withdraw into a state like hibernation in severe cases. Feeding tubes help sustain the life of the child, but it does not serve as a medical treatment. WebAmid that uncertainty, Karen fell ill again. "What happens afterwards? And under her tracksuit bottoms she wears a nappy. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? Resignation Syndrome: Catatonia? They frequently resist others attempts to support or encourage them to engage. In many cases, refugee mothers (and occasionally fathers) have been subject to traumatizing experiences such as rape or physical abuse, motivating them to sever their ties to their home state and flee to another country. It is important to highlight that these are simply theoretical hypotheses, as there is not enough research on Resignation Syndrome to garner a definitive answer. Common features are the ongoing nature of the trauma and the childs feelings of hopelessness and helplessness in the face of inescapable stress. What a fascinating interplay between belief and truth! The Strange Illness Among Swedens Refugee 13. He doubts Sophie will recover in 13 months. Experiences in detention and processing centres also directly contribute to feelings of lack of safety, anxiety and confusion. A refugee child might suppress these experiences but such trauma stays with them and so, they seek out security in countries like Sweden. There are many factors contributing to trauma for child asylum seekers and refugees. She is just waiting for the situation to be better.. At first, right-wing Swedish officials, certain sectors of the Swedish public, and even a handful of medical researchers believed the children were faking their symptoms or the parents were poisoning their children. The affected children all come from refugee families that have fled to Sweden after experiencing persecution of some kind. Their days are punctuated by Sophie's regime - exercises to stop her muscles wasting, attempts to engage her with music and cartoons, walks outside in a wheelchair, feeding and changing. Is climate change killing Australian wine? Unique to this syndrome is that there have been no reported cases outside of Sweden. It is also important to reiterate that there is incredible stress imbued within the immigration process as well. Clinicians reject this.". Culture-Bound?, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 10 (2016): doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00007. In Australia's offshore detention center for asylum-seekers on the island of Nauru, which has notoriously harsh conditions, the Economist reports that "traumatic withdrawal syndrome" has been seen among some child detainees. And we goof around a lot and dance and listen to music. According to Karl Sallin, it could be a copycat phenomenon. [20] Senay Boztas, These Are the Toughest Places for Asylum Seekers to Enter Europe, Telegraph.co.uk, last modified February 5, 2016, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/12140900/These-are-the-toughest-places-for-asylum-seekers-to-enter-Europe.html. Of course, it is important to note that this could also be a coincidence as there is no proven correlation between the two. The Netflix documentary Life Overtakes Me, directed by the husband-and-wife filmmaking team of Haptas and Kristine Samuelson, explores this baffling scenario. We want to bring all their senses to life. [21] As previously mentioned, refugee families flee their home country as it tends to be the place in which they experience their trauma. This theory is more preventative as it stipulates that had these refugee children received proper mental health treatment upon experiencing this trauma, they may have never fallen ill. With support from the Human Brain Project, Neuroethics and Philosophy. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Of that number, UNICEF estimates that around 46% are children. When that happens, to where or what can the child turn?". The best way, according to Swedish medical practitioners to treat Resignation Syndrome is to promote and maintain a secure and hopeful environment, encouraging a sense of coherence.[9] This security may come from granting asylum or permanent residency to these refugee families, thereby, eliminating the fear and uncertainty of being deported back to the place of previously experienced trauma. The To what extent it is physical, psychological or social is still being hotly debated in the pages of both medical journals and Scandinavian newspaper columns. Some of the families belong to ethnic minority groups victimized in their countries of origin. Dedicated to your worth and value as a human being! Medical experts noted there are no adequate medical or mental health facilities on Nauru to treat this condition. If you want to think more about this puzzling question, I recommended a new article in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, with Karl Sallin (PhD student at CRB) as first author. Therefore, if a child is faced with the uncertainty of being deported back to the place of their suppressed trauma, then that trauma has the possibility of resurfacing. [2] For example, 424 cases were reported between 2003 and 2005[7] and 2.8% of all 6,547 asylum applications submitted for children were diagnosed in 2004. None of those stories were proven. In Norway, when a few cases popped up, they separated affected children from parents and avoided feeding tubes, and the children were cured within weeks. They just fall away from the world. [9] In Sweden, hundreds of migrant children, facing the possibility of deportation, have been diagnosed since the 1990s. Some of the Nauru children were very unwell with complications of coma." Finally, refugee children who: exhibit psychological instability, have a history of mental health such as depression, and have overly sensitive personalities, run the greatest risk of falling ill. Theres Uighurs, theres Roma, Yazidis. Such traumas may include rape of a family member, physical abuse, threats to the familys livelihood, or the witnessing of other forms of violence. Nonetheless, as a consequence of this uncertainty in applying for residency again, the perceived danger of going back to his place of trauma was psychologically something Karen could not handle. [8] Only after tests were run, was it shown that there was neither outside manipulation nor were the kids faking the illness, these children were seriously sick. severe major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms or catatonia, or conversion/dissociation disorder. Write an article and join a growing community of more than 163,400 academics and researchers from 4,609 institutions. "And they give up hope, because they know they are totally dependent on the parent. The uncertainty and horror of these traumas leave a scarring impact on such young children. Their mental health problems are compounded by a lack of support and mental health services and limited access to family support. By all accounts, these children are genuinely ill. Life Overtakes Me is now streaming on Netflix, making it available to audiences around the world, including Sweden where it could potentially impact the politics that swirl around refugee matters. Dr Olssen rolled up Nolas dress, exposing her bare stomach and revealing that she was wearing a nappy under her tights. Last modified February 5, 2016. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/12140900/These-are-the-toughest-places-for-asylum-seekers-to-enter-Europe.html. Sophie and her family are asylum seekers from the former USSR. WebThe symptoms of Resignation Syndrome are similar to those suffering from Catatonia, a behavioral syndrome that involves a lack of proper movement and speech. Director of the Centre for Womens Mental Health at the Royal Womens Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne. Unlike Sophie, the children affected have often been living in Sweden for years, speak the language and are well-adjusted to their new, Nordic lives. Traumatized Children And Resignation Syndrome: Learn how your comment data is processed. Sophie was in the car so she witnessed me and her mother being roughly beaten," remembers Sophie's father. While the underlying theories of why the condition exists solely in Sweden will be discussed later in the paper, it is critical to highlight that before their affliction, many of these children have been living in Sweden for more than a couple of months. Three days later, her father made contact, and from then on the family remained on the move, hiding in friends' homes until they left for Sweden three months later. Children with resignation syndrome assessed and cared for by CAMHS had similar need of outpatient care as other children of the same origin who had been treated Another potential driving force of Resignation Syndrome is the practice of projective identification. Thus, these refugee children may not have directly experienced this trauma, but when their parents project their trauma onto them, they subsequently identify with this sense of hopelessness, slowly recognizing the trauma as their own. "But she has a high pulse rate, so maybe she's reacting to so many people coming to visit her today.". When they recover, they can often recall events that occurred while they were ill. Hultcrantz tests Sophie's reflexes. "They promised they will kill us. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. "The PTSD patient is stuck with reliving trauma, while in resignation syndrome, the person escapes it by withdrawal of awareness.". Free resources to assist you with your university studies! WebResignation Syndrome causes these children to become non-responsive. More precisely, many refugee children who have not migrated to Sweden, but other countries, are also under an immense amount of pressure, live in stress-induced conditions, and face the uncertainty of deportation as well. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Mystery of the sleeping refugee children who shut down in bizarre Pr Segerdahl is the editor of the Ethics Blog and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB). Only a tiny number have been unaccompanied migrants, none have been African, and very few have been Asian. The article enumerates cases where it can be suspected that catatonia-like conditions are caused psychologically: unexpected, unexplained sudden death after cancer diagnosis; death epidemics in situations of war and captivity characterized by hopelessness; acute or prolonged death after the utterance of magic death spells (known from several cultures). This refugee childs traumatic resurface risks transforming into Resignation Syndrome. The condition affects predominately psychologically traumatized children and adolescents in the midst of a strenuous and lengthy migration process.[1]. Previous trauma before ones migration as well as the trauma of leaving your home and immigrating to a new country can place an immense amount of stress onto a child. ", and beat the wall with her feet. Last modified November 16, 2018. Have you heard of - Karen Organization of Minnesota The question then is: Why does catatonia arise only in refugee children in Sweden? For the current Nauru families, the lack of options and a loss of hope for the future is a major risk for mental breakdown and traumatic withdrawal. The children moreover seem to retain awareness, even though their immobility makes them seem unconscious. As Elizabeth Hultcrantz, a doctor who has treated those with Resignation Syndrome, told The New Yorker: I think it is a form of protection, this coma they are in. There are instances reported in Australian [refugee] detention centers, which are pretty awful places, Haptas states. In the early stages of the Syndrome, there was a lot of public speculation regarding the childrens condition. (PDF) An example of science- and evidence-resistance in Could it be that spreading awareness of this phenomenon is actually causing more cases and doing more harm than good? "The most plausible explanation is that there are some sort of socio-cultural factors that are necessary in order for this condition to develop. The oldest children are better able to comprehend the trauma they experience either directly or indirectly through their family members, and also run a greater risk of being exposed to such trauma. Last modified February 20, 2018. Thats maybe a clue.. Upon this news, Dasha immediately began crying, slowly rejecting her food and stopped talking altogether after a few months (Life Overtakes Me, 2019). To Dasha, this profound change in the reality of their situation was accepted as a truth only when her mother, sensing greater security in her life, was able to move past her trauma and overcome her hopelessness. A proposed neurobiological model of the disorder suggests that the impact of overwhelming negative expectations are directly causative of the down-regulation of higher order and lower order behavioral systems in particularly vulnerable individuals. Traumatized Children And Resignation Syndrome Resignation syndrome Nola didnt resist the intrusion. Meanwhile, the younger siblings are not as aware of the family struggles and trauma nor are they exposed to it as much. Cine-ONU highlights resignation syndrome to mark Some are traumatised by experiences in their countries of origin and the process of fleeing. So how can an illness respect national boundaries? The concept was first developed in Sweden in the mid-1990s, after the children of asylum-seekers began exhibiting strange symptoms. Last modified September 27, 2018. https://www.buzzfeed.com/lanesainty/refugee-children-resignation-syndrome-sweden-australia. 12 (2005): 344, doi:10.1080/08035250510036778. The article is long and technical, but for those interested, it is well worth the effort. If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! Its one of 10 short docs shortlisted for Academy Awards consideration. A final contributing factor frequently cited by medical researchers for why Resignation Syndrome exists is a theory of mental health. That question brings us to the second part of the hypothesis, which has some similarities with the theory that the mother affects the child psychologically to exhibit symptoms: really have them, not only simulate them! Are doctors ethically obliged to keep at-risk children out of detention? He initially adjusted well after resettlement in A young Russian girl named Dasha gradually became afflicted with Resignation Syndrome after her family fled to Sweden. A certain way of reacting or responding to traumatic events seems to be legitimised in a certain context.". Resignation Syndrome was first reported late in the 1990s, but there has been an increase in the number of cases in the last two years (2017- 2019). They have day clothes and night clothes, and experienced staff like Clara Ogren, help them colour or draw by holding their hands to grip a pencil. [10] Swedens Mystery Illness: Resignation Syndrome, Doctors of the World, last modified February 20, 2018, https://doctorsoftheworld.org/blog/swedens-mystery-illness-resignation-syndrome/. (2019; Sweden: Netflix, 2019), Film. Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, Asylum seekers with apathetic refugee children, "Pervasive refusal syndrome as part of the refusal-withdrawal-regression spectrum: critical review of the literature illustrated by a case report", "Asylskande Barn med Uppgivenhetssymtom Trauma, Kultur, Asylprocess", "Comment on the paper "Pervasive Refusal Syndrome (PRS) 21 years on-a reconceptualization and renaming" by Ken Nunn, Bryan Lask and Isabel Owen", "12yo refugee on hunger strike on Nauru suffering from resignation syndrome, doctors say - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)", "Sveket mot de "apatiska" barnen r en skandal", "SVT mste ta ansvar fr apatiska barn-skandalen", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Resignation_syndrome&oldid=1122265720, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Swedish-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 November 2022, at 18:26. Thanks for comment! "Typically a depressive onset is followed by gradual withdrawal progressing via stupor into a state that prompts tube feeding and is characterized by failure to respond even to painful stimuli," a study of the phenomenon in Frontiers In Behavioral Neuroscience found in 2016. The Swedish Affliction: Resignation Syndrome If you've never heard of resignation syndrome, you're not alone. Your email address will not be published. For nearly two decades Sweden has been battling a mysterious illness. [1] In total, there have been approximately 800 cases of children suffering from the condition. Parents require treatment for their own mental health issues and support in providing care for their child. Doctor Hultcrantz knows that the children can be healthy again, they are not damaged for life if you take care of them. (2013). We are dealing with a known diagnosis: catatonia, which is characterized by the same loss of motor skills. Child Trauma on Nauru The Facts. Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. [8] Furthermore, Sweden's experience raises concerns about "contagion". Yes, these children must, of course, be offered care. [10] She goes on to describes the afflicted childs recovery as more sound, more life in the house the siblings are more joyful the parents sit around the child and they touch the child and they hug the child. These contributing factors include, but are not limited to 1) the immense amount of stress placed on refugee children, 2) an ensuing lack of proper mental health treatment for the stress the child is under as well as the past trauma he or she has experienced, and 3) a psychodynamic hypothesis in which the migrant mother (or even father), often the subject of physical abuse or sexual assault, projects his or her trauma onto the child, who subsequently adopts this trauma as its own. So I discovered this blog and article about this phenomena because we are seeing cases of catatonic depression in immigrant children in a small CT community. Whats more, beyond the trauma experienced back home, these refugee children also face the trauma of the journey [and] the trauma of detention at some point, the bucket is full. Highly recommended news interview with Dr Hultcrantz: Resignation Syndrome: Almost 20 years, Sweden has been battling a mysterious illness. So the idea of referencing a fairytale and referencing Snow White really worked. Their children are going to school. There was something so insane about what we were seeing. Ethical challenges when children with cancer are recruited for research, Science, science communication and language, Att frvalta arvet frn ansvarsfull forskning och innovation i Human Brain Project - Etikbloggen, Frndrar sjukdomens svrighet den moraliska motivationen att agera? Unfortunately, soon thereafter, the family was forced to re-apply. What do her parents think will aid her recovery? They are like Snow White. Families who are overwhelmed by stress may require longer-term counselling and trauma treatment. WebIn English, this became resignation syndrome. However, the currently prevailing stress hypothesis fails to account for the regional distribution (see Epidemiology) and contributes little to treatment. So somehow - and we do not know the mechanism for this, and why it should happen in Sweden - the kind of symptoms displayed by the children are culturally sanctioned: this is a way the children are allowed to express their trauma. Between 2003 and 2005, 424 cases were reported and hundreds more children have since been struck down with They require mental health specialists to create feelings of safety and security. Sophie heard everything in that meeting with the Migration Board, and it was at this point that she stopped speaking and eating. "Maybe the new baby when it comes will help," says Sophie's father. Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? Applicants are granted either a three-year or 13-month visa. This work takes a lot of energy because we have to live for the children until they start to live on their own.". But the arrival of some 300,000 migrants in the last three years has led to a change of heart. Even later in the film, the mother [of one unconscious girl] is combing her hair and says, Youre just like Rapunzel. Thats really something that we felt was just floating there.. Resignation syndrome in refugee children a new Children are exposed to distress and despair in others around them and in their own parents. The condition affects predominately psychologically traumatized children and adolescents in the midst of a strenuous and lengthy migration process. It is only when they receive the notice that their request for asylum has been denied or they receive a warning of imminent deportation do they begin to display symptoms of Resignation Syndrome. "You need to harden your heart with these cases," says Sophie's paediatrician, Dr Lars Dagson, who has seen her regularly throughout her illness. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Recovery ensues within months to years and is claimed to be dependent on the restoration of hope to the family. Can a Coma Be Contagious? - The New York Times
