Menu
header photo

Project Vision 21

Transforming lives, renewing minds, cocreating the future

Blog Search

Blog Archive

Comments

There are currently no blog comments.

Xenophobia, discrimination traumatize their victims

One of the tasks I really enjoy is to provide professional translations, because it gives me the opportunity of entering simultaneously into two minds, the mind of the writer of the text and the mind of the reader, creating a bridge that sometimes span across centuries and cultures.

This is an activity I have been doing for more than a quarter of a century and last week I was asked to translate a document for a lawyers firm in Denver. The 10-page document was a list of the potential physical and psychological consequences a person can face after a car accident.

The translation was relatively easy. It was as just a list of health problems, including headaches and back pain, insomnia, depression, and emotional consequences, such as the desire to be left alone and concerns about the future.

When I was working on the translation of such a long list of traumas and consequences after an automobile accident, I soon realize that some time in the past I translated a similar list, but unrelated to any kind of accidents or legal matters.

The list included health and emotional problems such as sleeping at unusual times, addiction to alcohol or drugs, problems using tools or machines, problems understanding others or being understood by others, need for instant gratification, apathy, and lack of desire to interact or cooperate with others.

It seems to me that list is very similar to a list compiled in 2007 by Dr. Patrick Steffen, Associated Professor at the Department of Psychology at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah. The list is part of Steffen’s study about how discrimination and xenophobia affect the physical, mental, and emotional health of immigrants.

According to Steffen, many immigrants live in fear. Fear leads to anxiety, which in turn causes insomnia and eventually depression. In his research, Steffen says there is a connection between racism (real or perceived as such) and insomnia.

When somebody suffers a bad experience during the day, that person can’t sleep at night. As a consequence, the next day that person may have problems focusing, interacting with others, or using tools.

When the experiences of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination happen frequently, the victim may become aware of other differences, creating more tensions and concerns, and leading perhaps to problems of self-control and temper, causing social isolation.

In other words, if we compare both lists, we will immediately see that both the victims in the document created by the lawyers and the victims in the research done by the BYU psychologist suffer from similar traumas, due to either a car crash or to discrimination and racism by individuals or groups.

It’s easy to see an accident -may God or fate prevent such a thing from ever happening to us- causes traumatic consequences. I wonder how many victims of discrimination can see and understand that they too suffer from traumatic consequences.

If they don’t know it, they will never ask for the medical, psychological, and legal help they may need.

Go Back