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Submission to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from
Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ASTSS)
On behalf of ASTSS I would like to thank you for inviting us to this meeting. Our Association consists of professionals of different disciplines whose aim is to diagnose, treat and prevent major stresses and traumas and their consequences. Some of our members have expressed concern from their clinical experience that traumatized detainees have been further traumatized, and as well, that carers for detainees have been secondarily affected. The following is a summary of their experiences. It is consistent with other scientific knowledge in the field.
Introduction
According to our experience severe stress and trauma related illnesses in detainees may manifest as a variety of illnesses and disorders. They include anxieties, depressions, acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social pathology such as violence, suicide, and physical and sexual abuse among the detainees.
Factors which lead to such illnesses and which may be usefully addressed are
- threats to life and reliving them through current triggers and
- threats to what makes life meaningful, which can be just as important as direct threat to life.
These factors may occur in adult and child detainees, and secondarily in their carers. Manifestations may be acute or delayed.
FACTORS AMONG REFUGEES
Threat to life
Both adult and child refugees may have witnessed death and experienced threat to life, whether their own, their families' or of others close to them. This may have occurred in the context of persecution, incarceration, intimidation or humiliation.
Triggers to reliving these experiences among detainees include incarceration, dehumanization such as being known by numbers, humiliation, powerlessness, arbitrariness and injustice. Such triggers can occur in adults and children.
Threat to meaning of life
Adults
This can be induced by deprivation of basic human needs and preventing expression of basic human characteristics. These include
- lack of physical needs such as temperature control, digestible food, provision for excretory needs, hygiene, exercise of body and mind
- lack of ability to provide care security hope and future for self and others especially children, family and friends in need
- destruction of sense of self and identity, honour and self-esteem through humiliation and dehumanization, and denial of human rights (such as blocking communication with family and with the outside world, including the legal system).
- Denial of natural sense of justice values, dignity and principles. These include not being granted sanctuary when pursued by killers, being judged as bad and criminal when one is innocent and victim, being lumped as one with perpetrators, being punished when not having harmed anyone, being made to suffer to deter others from attempting to save their lives by coming to Australia.
- inability to maintain self-respect, express potentials, have sense of agency, being made helpless and powerless
Children
Threats to the meaning of life for children include
- witnessing acts of violence and violent conflict with authority figures
- neglect and lack of physical and emotional care, love and security
- lack of adults to rely on, respect, model on, keep fair order
- Seeing parents humiliated, made powerless and helpless, and unavailable because they are depressed irritable and otherwise disturbed
- physical and sexual abuse
- being stigmatized as being different, identity not respected
- lack of expectable routine, ability to play, learn and create
CARERS
Stresses on carers include isolation and physical conditions. However, more stressful is having to participate in a system which they judge to be unjust. This includes having to inflict suffering on people who they see as already having suffered enough. This leads to a sense of themselves being unjustly treated, having to change value systems and personalities such as becoming callous. They feel intimidated by secrecy rules, compromised by having to cover for colleagues who are more callous and even cruel, and being part of a system which is concerned about making profits at the expense of care for prisoners.
Carers suffer burnout, secondary stress disorders and psychosomatic illnesses.
THE WIDER COMMUNITY
To the extent that the community perceives detainees to be enemies, their incarceration causes no more distress than the logical incarceration of enemy soldiers in prisoner of war camps. However, should they come to perceive that most detainees are traumatized refugees, they may well feel distress at having been unwittingly made to be bystanders or even passive collaborators to inflicting suffering on innocent victims. For some this has already led to conflicts about what it means to be Australian. There may be loss of national pride and resentment at having to say sorry.
Short Term and Long Term Consequences
Anxieties, depressions, stress disorders, abuse, violence, suicide and other consequences may be acute, delayed or chronic. It should not be thought that once released, experiences while incarcerated suddenly evaporate. Rather, they become part of a pool of experience. Sometimes disorders can erupt after release, when immediate survival issues have receded.
Traumatic stress consequence may also cascade over time whether incarcerated or after release. For instance, powerless males who may seek some sort of sense of having impact may abuse their families and other vulnerable people. This then can cause spirals of consequences on both victims and themselves.
Children are particularly vulnerable and amenable to be victimized. This may lead to long term and chronic disorders and suffering. Alternately they may grow into callous, cynical and inured human beings.
CONCLUSIONS
The Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies is concerned that a vicious cycle of trauma of already traumatized people is causing undue suffering and ill health currently and will continue to do so in the future. Many of the factors elaborated above which cause such suffering and illnesses can be addressed satisfactorily and hence prevent the cycle of suffering and illness. Such prevention may lead to grateful, rather than ill and embittered citizens.
Last Updated 9 January 2003.
