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Articles

Adult attachment in the context of refugee traumatisation: the impact of organized violence and forced separation on parental states of mind regarding attachment

, &
Pages 249-264
Received 01 Apr 2009
Accepted 01 Jan 2010
Published online: 14 May 2010

Starting from an outline of the refugee experience as a process of cumulative traumatisation, we review research literature on mental health outcomes in refugees. Next, an integration of findings on relational processes in refugee families documents the role of the family unit as a key interactive context patterning the impact of sequential traumatisation. Relating these trauma- and migration-specific family processes to their central dimension of provision or disruption of emotional availability in a context of chronic adversity, we aim to explore the development of unresolved and insecure parental states of mind regarding attachment during forced migration. Starting the research report, a method discussion on the administration of 11 Adult Attachment Interviews with adult refugees as part of an explorative multiple case study integrates deontological and technical reflections on the use of the Adult Attachment Interview in a context of ongoing traumatisation. The paper then presents findings on adult attachment in refugees and highlights representational processes involved in the potential disruption of caregiver availability during refugee traumatisation.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all participating parents who agreed to share their life stories and attachment experiences within the context of the Adult Attachment Interview. Hoping their openness and courage to reflect upon past and present family relationships within an enduring context of refugee trauma was part of a rebuilding relationship in which suffering and hope could be transmitted, we express our wish and commitment that their research participation may lead to the mobilisation of understanding and care within host societies for refugee families' strengths and vulnerabilities in living through war and forced separation.

 

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