- Title
- Dehumanisation, politicisation and growth: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of refugee and asylum seeker detention
- Creator
- Digges, Andrew
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- Masters Coursework - Master of Clinical Psychology (MClinPsych)
- Description
- Maritime asylum seekers arriving in Australia are subject to mandatory immigration detention and perpetual temporary protection restrictions, regardless of Refugee Status Determination. Despite compounding traumatic events and high rates of psychopathology associated with these policies, limited qualitative research has explored how individuals make sense of their experiences. This study sought positive and negative interpretative insights from five refugees and asylum seekers with lived experiences of immigration detention. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a qualitative methodology examining idiographic accounts of poorly understood phenomena. One superordinate theme: Destroyed Humanity, Criminalised Vulnerability and Reclaiming Self, encompassed five subordinate themes: Human Debris: Politicised, Criminalised and Betrayed; Trapped in Limbo: Temporary and Stigmatised; Longevity of Disconnect; Gender Minimisation; and Reclaiming Authentic Self. Participants interpreted their experiences of detention and temporary protection as dehumanising and punitive, eroding their sense of vitality, potential and integral self. An ongoing state of existential suspension and politicising social discourse dismissive of their suffering added to participants’ sense of betrayal, continuing trauma, social dislocation and diminished self-worth. Specific to female participants’ experiences, gender minimisation compounded the disempowerment of indefinite detention with an omnipotent threat of structurally sanctioned sexual violence. Paradoxically however, faith, hopefulness and refugee pride energised all participants’ advocacy and reassertion of agency. Compartmentalised trauma in juxtaposition to their external realities challenged Western notions of psychological healing. Clinical implications include differential evaluation of psychopathology in the context of continuing trauma, acknowledging gender-directed harm in detention and cognitive processing to engage with psychological growth.
- Subject
- immigration detention; refugeeism; asylum seekers; interpretative phenomenological analysis; posttrauma growth
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1488042
- Identifier
- uon:52330
- Rights
- Copyright 2023 Andrew Digges
- Language
- eng
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