Intergenerational Trauma in Second Generation Afghan American Males
[Thesis]
Niazi, Abid Wice Mohammad
Curtis-Boles, Harriet
Alliant International University
2019
200
Psy.D.
Alliant International University
2019
This qualitative study grew from a desire to examine how war and migration trauma on the part of Afghan Refugee parents may have been transmitted intergenerationally to their offspring. Although there is a growing body of research on Afghan refugees, there is little attention paid to their children, and even less consideration given to the experiences of Afghan American men. This study explored the intergenerational transmission of trauma among second-generation Afghan men whose parents fled Afghanistan during the Soviet Invasion from 1979 to 1989. I examined how second-generation Afghan men may have internalized their parents' experiences of trauma in ways that have affected their psychological well-being and identity formation. My method - including my invocation of mutuality and "resonance" in conducting interviews - was intended to give voice to participants who might otherwise never share their stories and those of their families with a mental health professional, thereby helping to reduce the mental health care stigma while enabling the researcher to explore key questions in an extensive and comprehensive way. Five major themes emerged from participants' narratives: parental shared stories of migration/resettlement and Afghanistan history; values and traditions retained of Afghan culture; impact of parents' refugee experience on overall life; participants' experience vs. parents experience; and the effects of intergenerational trauma. Participants' relationships to these themes reflected their familial trauma journey in ways that mirrored my own. Results suggested clinicians may need to take creative approaches to serving this population, rethinking their own positionality in the healing relationship, and what constitutes a "therapeutic relationship" overall. Such openness to different methods may provide clinicians greater access to serving a diverse population of individuals who may be uncomfortable with the prevailing mental healthcare model.