Copyright

Christine Spevak-Grossi

Published On

2025-09-09

Page Range

pp. 351–378

Language

  • English

Print Length

28 pages

14. Flight and Post-Traumatic Stress: Their Influence on a Person’s Identity

Chapter of: Interprofessional Approach to Refugee Health: A Practical Guide for Interdisciplinary Health and Social Care Teams(pp. 351–378)
This chapter describes the impact of refugee experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on a person's identity. In addition, the author aims to show ways in which refugees with PTSD can be supported in their recovery by focusing on their identity. To do this, she uses the Identity Work approach.

In the country of arrival, refugees suffer from occupational deprivation. This means that environmental conditions prevent people from taking action, for example when an asylum seeker is not allowed to work for legal reasons. Environmental conditions, such as economic, social and political factors prevent refugees from participation in society. This can exacerbate the illness. In the sense of occupational justice, it is the task of the health professions to demonstrate that a limited ability to act and the prevention of individually meaningful employment have a negative impact on a person's identity and thus fatal consequences. This feeds the vicious circle of PTSD, uprooting through flight, loss of identity and illness. This needs to be broken. One possible approach is identity work, as described in this chapter using occupational therapy interventions.

Contributors

Christine Spevak-Grossi

(author)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5698-3531

Christine Spevak-Grossi is a full-time lecturer at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems/Lower Austria. Her teaching focuses are mental health, cultural sensitivity and diversity care, occupational therapy basics, public health and international development. She completed her Master’s degree in Transcultural Medicine and Diversity Care at the Medical University of Vienna. In her scientific work she deals with the following topics, always in relation to occupational therapy and occupational science: identity work, transculturality with a focus on refugees and post-traumatic stress disorder, planetary health and ethics. She is a member of the Ethics Advisory Board of the Austrian Occupational Therapy Association. During her travels she has gained insights into occupational therapy work in psychiatry in Nigeria, India and Iceland.