If that is the case, it raises an interesting question: could Resignation Syndrome be contagious? It remains the case that children from particular geographical and ethnic groups are the most vulnerable: those from the former USSR, the Balkans, Roma children, and most recently the Yazidi. "They took me away and then I don't remember anything," he says. Dr. Elisabeth Hultcrantz has treated over 40 children with resignation syndrome, including Sophie, who displayed symptoms after her parents were told they were being deported from Sweden. In contrast, her hair is thick and shiny - like a healthy child's. [4] Swedens Mystery Illness: Resignation Syndrome, Doctors of the World, last modified February 20, 2018, https://doctorsoftheworld.org/blog/swedens-mystery-illness-resignation-syndrome/. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. FactCheck Q&A: Has the number of asylum seeker children in detention declined? Such traumas may include rape of a family member, physical abuse, threats to the familys livelihood, or the witnessing of other forms of violence. When her father picks her up from her wheelchair, nine-year-old Sophie is lifeless. But if I understand Sallin correctly, he thinks that the spread of symptom descriptions through mass media, and the ongoing practice of treating children with resignation syndrome, might be essential in this context. BBC News, Sweden. Elisabeth Hultcrantz: Children disconnect the conscious part of their brain, Annica Carlshamre: This sickness has to do with trauma, not asylum, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Traumatic withdrawal has been seen in groups of asylum seeker and refugee children in European settings where families lack protection and resettlement options. It's a topic for research.". Resignation syndrome appears to be a very specialized response to the trauma of refugee limbo, in which families, many of whom have escaped dangerous circumstances in their home countries, wait to be granted legal permission to stay in their new country, often undergoing numerous refusals and appeals over a period of years. In comparison, countries like Greece, Hungary, and Romania have always been known to have stricter immigration laws; therefore, refugees fleeing to those countries are aware that the chances of their asylum being granted is less. Then, quite quickly, Sophie deteriorated. Sweden's National Board of Health recently stated there were 169 cases in 2015 and 2016. Clinicians reject this.". In other words, this culturally-based hypothesis has enough credible support to suggest it plays both a contributing factor for the condition and explain why the illness exists only in the Swedish state. Making the Oscar shortlist has left Haptas and Samuelson with a feeling of gratitude. All Rights Reserved. Accordingly, there should be evidence of other refugee children, who are living outside of Sweden, that suffer from Resignation Syndrome. "The most plausible explanation is that there are some sort of socio-cultural factors that are necessary in order for this condition to develop. They frequently resist others attempts to support or encourage them to engage. [1] An asserted questioning attitude, in particular within the health care system, it has been claimed, may constitute a perpetuating retraumatization possibly explaining the endemic distribution. failure to respond even to painful stimuli, "traumatic withdrawal syndrome" has been seen, disconnected the conscious part of her brain, 24.5 million refugees and 3.1 asylum-seekers worldwide. 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. Report calls for royal commission into children in immigration detention: experts respond. on Refugees, Resignation Syndrome, Kosovo By all accounts, these children are genuinely ill. Making the film, she says, became a very important way to be showing and thinking about the crisis these kids are in, the physical and mental crisis that theyre in emotionally when they are faced with this horrifying trauma.. Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. ", In order to protect the family's identity, Sophie's name has been changed. Accordingly, these restrictive laws foster a feeling of uncertainty amongst previously traumatized refugee children as their expectations of staying in Sweden are shattered. Kristine Samuelson & John Haptas Recount the Horror [13][14] As evidenced by medical records, healthcare professionals were aware of this scam and witnessed parents who actively refused aid for their children but remained silent at the time. "And they give up hope, because they know they are totally dependent on the parent. Supported by the Human Brain Project, Neuroethics and Philosophy. In other words, the child identifies with his or her parents loss of hope, and internalizes their trauma, slowly withdrawing from the world. Required fields are marked *. So how can an illness respect national boundaries? The thing we found out is that if you talk to eight experts, you get 10 opinions, notes filmmaker John Haptas. Here is the link to the Connecticut movie showings: https://www.courant.com/ctnow/movies/hc-ctnow-movie-oscar-shorts-hartford-manchester-danbury-20200127-qtjbqegysbgs5o7mft345akx4q-story.html, Your email address will not be published. And under her tracksuit bottoms she wears a nappy. Eventually their condition might progress to stupor, i.e. Culture-Bound?, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 10 (2016): doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00007. Amid that uncertainty, Karen fell ill again. Experts have proposed multifactorial explanatory models involving individual vulnerability, traumatization, migration, culturally conditioned reaction patterns and parental dysfunction or pathological adaption to a caregiver's expectations to interplay in pathogenesis. Youre Not Alone, How To Stretch Your Hands, According To Physical Therapists, Trainers Say Walking 8,000 Steps A Day Is Just Fine, TYVM, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. 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. However, there is arguably a lack of research on how forced immigration and previous trauma can specifically impact the health of refugee children. [7] In this state, the afflicted childrens parents are forced to feed them through feeding tubes and place their children in diapers as they are unable to walk. [11] However, this renewed sense of security does not guarantee recovery, and if the child does recover, it takes a long time to feel secure as nightmares and stress continue to linger. While many hypotheses have been presented, there is no definitive answer to why Resignation Syndrome does not exist outside of Sweden. "The patient is seemingly unconscious. The filmmakers settled on the title for their short after a period of research and reflection. And we goof around a lot and dance and listen to music. [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. Resignation Syndrome in Children Young people reportedly develop depressive symptoms, become socially withdrawn, and become motionless and speechless as a reaction to stress and hopelessness. 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. What do her parents think will aid her recovery? But then when their visa is denied and theyre told they have to go back to their home country, the fact that they actually had a good life in Sweden is in striking contrast to what they would be going back to., One doctor in Life Overtakes Medescribes the psychological reality this way: Your child is laying here like Snow White because everything is so terrible around her that this is a way of protection. 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. But if it were true, the syndrome should occur also in other countries. "They promised they will kill us. [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. Boztas, Senay. Notwithstanding, the family was granted a temporary thirteen-month residency in Sweden and Karen began improving, assimilating in the Swedish school system and learning the language. (PDF) An example of science- and evidence-resistance in Several hundred cases have been reported, which in 2014 led the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare to introduce a new diagnosis: resignation syndrome. The condition has come to be known as Resignation Syndrome. It is up to the parents to transmit this sense of hope as the afflicted children are dependent upon rebuilding security in their lives. As exemplified in this paper, there are many potential contributing factors for why Resignation Syndrome exists primarily amongst refugee children. Another potential driving force of Resignation Syndrome is the practice of projective identification. [5] Others, however, argue that already-existing diagnostic entities should be used and are sufficient in the majority of cases, i.e. The symptoms of Resignation Syndrome are similar to those suffering from Catatonia, a behavioral syndrome that involves a lack of proper movement and speech. Sophie was in the car so she witnessed me and her mother being roughly beaten," remembers Sophie's father. Read more: The witnesses insisted that the girl had been a well-functioning, normal child who was coached into faking her illness when doctors and officials were present. Amid their immigration, Karen began exhibiting signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the trauma he suffered. The diagnosis itself has been controversial; the BBC reported in 2017 that that the Swedish children had been accused of "faking it," and that their parents were suspected poisoning them, though "none of these stories were proven," the BBC clarifies. Sweden: By Turns Welcoming and Restrictive in Its Immigration Policy. Migrationpolicy.org. Aviv, Rachel. Write an article and join a growing community of more than 163,400 academics and researchers from 4,609 institutions. When children witness violence or threats against a parent, their most significant connection in the world is ripped apart, the carers at Solsidan believe. 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. [4], Acknowledging its social importance and relevance, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare recognized the novel diagnostic entity resignation syndrome in 2014. Yet, as previously mentioned, no reported cases have been reported past Swedish national boundaries; therefore, the psychodynamic hypothesis falls short of explaining this bizarre phenomenon. Secondary symptoms may also appear such as weight gain, viral infections, skin sores, and muscular deterioration. Last modified January 30, 2019. Medical and mental health professionals and refugee rights groups are all calling for urgent care for these children. Through their parents tone, touch, and the general shift in the atmosphere resulting from good news, the children have a chance of coming out of their coma-like state. She is just waiting for the situation to be better.. But when he later began to talk about psychological factors behind the symptoms, the number of cases of hysteria dropped. 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! Subsequently, in late 2016, a restrictive family reunification and asylum law came into force. Sophie and her family are asylum seekers from the former USSR. For instance, before migration, children may experience the stress of living through a state war, the loss of a parents career (frequently leading to a lack of funds), critical illness, the sexual or physical abuse of a family member, or the witnessing of violent acts such as murder. Resignation syndrome Then everything sort of snowballed. In Sweden it may make a real concrete difference, as the film gets out, to how the government handles immigration policyparticularly because, like a lot of countries, Sweden is facing a resurgence of the right wing and the growth of anti-immigration sentiment.. Between 2003 and 2005, 424 cases were reported and hundreds more children have since been struck down with He initially adjusted well after resettlement in Sweden, but then, like Daria, he too fell into a catatonic state and now must be nourished through a feeding tube threaded down his nose. Either their families request for asylum is denied, they are not granted permanent residency, or they receive a notice of imminent deportation. Some become comatose and unresponsive.". "We play for them until they can play on their own. The men let Sophie's mother go - she grabbed her daughter and ran. There are many factors contributing to trauma for child asylum seekers and refugees. To further this hypothesis, the surprising denial of asylum due to stricter immigration laws is coupled with the refugee childs manifesting fear of returning to his or her place of trauma. They just cannot activate any motor skills. The condition could persist for months or even years. "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. Looking for a flexible role? I think it is a form of protection, this coma they are in," she told Doctors Of The World. The Strange Illness Among Swedens Refugee 13. The catatonia hypothesis can be tested, Sallin suggests, by trying treatments with known responses in catatonic patients, and by performing PET scans of the brain. Resignation Syndrome: Catatonia? Numerous conditions resembling Resignation Syndrome have been reported before - among Nazi concentration camp inmates, for example. Probably, electromagnetic hypersensitivity is a phenomenon of this kind, having psychological causes: a nocebo effect. Only a tiny number have been unaccompanied migrants, none have been African, and very few have been Asian. "Her blood pressure is quite normal," says Dr Elisabeth Hultcrantz, a volunteer with Doctors of the World. 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. Hundreds of Young Swedish Asylum-Seekers Are Falling Resignation syndrome is a strange disorder thats been occurring in Sweden for decades in the child and adolescent refugee population. The article in The New Yorker emphasizes that the syndrome is a culture-bound psychopathology. A common explanation of the syndrome is that it is a reaction to stress and depression. Of course, it is important to note that this could also be a coincidence as there is no proven correlation between the two. Whilst the exact causes of Resignation Syndrome remain an enigma, it is generally thought to be brought on by a severe lack of hope and intense stress, fuelled by extremely distressing asylum processes, previous traumatic events, and social exclusion.