Resignation syndrome what is, symptoms, causes and treatment

¿How a disease can respect national borders? There is a curious alteration that occurs only in Sweden and appears in children and adolescents. This phenomenon is described as a dissociative and somatic reaction against the risk of re -exposition to trauma, which has been analyzed to be involved in the return to the country of origin or have suffered a considerable threat to the survival of theirs and of itself. In this psychology-online article we explain relevant data on this unique pathology that has worried many immigrant parents for years: What is resignation syndrome, its symptoms, causes and treatment.

1. What is resignation syndrome
2. Symptoms of learned resignation syndrome
3. Causes of learned resignation syndrome
4. Treatment of learned resignation syndrome

What is resignation syndrome

Resignation syndrome is characterized by a status of catatonia or coma that can last between a few months and even years. This pathology that curiously affects mostly and almost delimited to children and adolescents of families that have sought migratory asylum, in geographical spaces of Sweden.

Risk groups continue to be children in particular geographical areas: immigrants to Nordic lands. So far no case is known outside this population, and this is what makes it very interest for psychiatric health researchers.

It has been observed that most cases occur Between 7 and 19 years, In children and adolescents who are previously well adjusted to their new environment, but in addition to age they also present another aspect in common: exposure to situations that may result threatening for survival of the subject and that of his family.

These children, in addition to having crossed the migration situation And the heartbreaking vicissitudes implies, most of them and their family have been pressured to leave their country of origin due to the threat of mafias, extortion, kidnappings, abuse and aggressions.

Symptoms of learned resignation syndrome

Symptoms have an insidious character, that is, that the Catatonic State is gradual or progressive. It begins slowly and its prodromic phase does not manifest symptoms or signs that can be observed by others. Thus, the person and family are not aware that the syndrome is being presented.

Here are some of your detailed symptoms in a brief list:

• Inaction or known as stupor in psychiatry (which is characterized by an absence of spontaneous and reagent movements).
• Muscle laxity.
• Sensory and interactive isolation of the world.
• Stop eating, drinking and walking and therefore very high risk of starvation.
• Mutism, that is to say a condition where the subject is capable (anatomically and physiologically speaking) of expressing himself verbally but stops doing so suddenly.
• Loss of sphincter control.
• The subjects of the subjects remain closed
• Catatonic state.
• Neurologically, everything works well in these people.
• They appear to be asleep in an uninterrupted dream.

Causes of learned resignation syndrome

Within the causes of the resignation syndrome, in addition to the social situation of a boy or girl, we must also contemplate the psychological processes that it entails.

Social situation

The process that leads to the symptoms of resignation syndrome is generated after the following circumstances in the child's life:

• Exposure to situations that may result threatening for survival of the subject (aggressions, kidnappings, sexual aggressions, abuses).
• Pierce by a process of migration Due to the pressure of a conflict in your country of origin.
• Rejection of residence to which they emigrated.
• They have witnessed Extreme violence (Often against their parents), especially where the life of primary support network has been in danger and especially for their same human peers.
• They have witnessed torture, violence and abuse to your primary support network.

Screen of the self

Teresa Sánchez (2020) in his article "Resignation syndrome, migratory trauma, extreme somatization and dissociation" gives us an interesting hypothesis about the cause of resignation syndrome, detailing what happens in the self through the reading of different authors involved in the subject. The author describes how The self suffers a split for the migration situation, which can be related to the etiology of this syndrome. I consider it essential for interested professionals, the analysis of the resignation syndrome as A physiological process that has psychological consequences, And not only the glimpse of a compendium of Ethiopathogenesis.

Alteration of the prefrontal and dorsolateral cortex of the brain

Another hypothesis of its cause is the alteration that occurs in the brain proposed by Van der Kolk (2015):

• He Tálamo Mix all the information of our perceptions and thus prepare an autobiographical set, an integrated and coherent experience.
• While the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex From our brain it indicates how of our current experience is related to the past and how our future can affect. Knowing that anything that is happening has a start, an outcome and an end (that will sooner or later come to an end) does most of the experiences be tolerable.

¿What is the relationship as a cause of resignation syndrome? For van der Kolk situations become intolerable when they seem endless, And trauma is the maximum experience of that feeling that "that will last forever". If the thalamus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are altered, the traum Isolated sensory traces: images, kinesthetic sensations, sounds and smells.

The thalamus helps us to distinguish between the sensory information that is relevant and the information that can be ignored calmly, acting as a filter in normal situations, but people with resignation syndrome could as well as in a post -traumatic stress disorder have the gates of this completely open filter. Lacking filters, suffer a constant emotional overload and to be able to face it they try to disconnect -PARALIZING -.

This in summary can cause that catatonic state of the minors of those that until today are not recognized anatomical, physiological and psychological etiologies concrete.

Treatment of learned resignation syndrome

Providing support or some kind of intervention to these minors goes beyond helping them find words to describe what has happened to them. The act of telling the story does not necessarily modify the physical responses of hyperalera that has long maintained for the preparation of bloody or guy and real adventures. The body must also Learn that danger has already happened And that can live in the reality of his present.

The human being presents three types of response to any threat to survival:

• Struggle.
• Flight.
• Paralysis.

Minors have used the first two mechanisms to survive, which have an active characteristic. They fought against the threat screaming and kicking, then They fled of their country of origin and, before the state of helplessness in a new environment and with the threat of being deported, they cannot do anything but try paralyze and try to survive like this.

For this reason the treatment must be oriented to a Physiological and psychological understanding of trauma. In these articles we explain what trauma is and how to overcome psychological trauma.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Resignation syndrome: what is, symptoms, causes and treatment, We recommend that you enter our category of emotional and behavioral disorders.