Idioms of resilience

Mental health and migration in India

Bibliographic Data

ID19272932
AuthorsRaghu Raghavan (0000-0002-3346-0877, Mary Seacole Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, England, UK), Brian Brown (0000-0003-0670-0924, Mary Seacole Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, England, UK, corresponding author), Jonathan Coope (0000-0001-7284-3814, Mary Seacole Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, England, UK), Mark Crossley (0000-0003-3050-8561, Mary Seacole Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, England, UK), M Sivakami (0000-0001-6861-7603, Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Nilesh Gawde (0000-0003-0728-044X, Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Tejasi Pendse (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Saba Jamwal (Asoka Centre for Wellbeing, Asoka University, Sonipat, Haryana, India), Andy Barrett (0000-0002-3667-0431, Excavate Theatre, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK), Ashok Dyalchand (Institute of Health Management Pachod), Santosh K Chaturvedi (0000-0002-3675-1389, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences), Santosh Chaturvedi (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences), Abhijeet Chowdary (Swatantra Theatre, Pune, Maharashtra, India), Dhanashree Heblikar (Swatantra Theatre, Pune, Maharashtra, India)
Year2022
Volume68
Issue8
Pages1607-1613
Publication date2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Social Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7640 • E-ISSN: 1741-2854
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00207640211042916
PMID34461755
OpenAlexW3197839941
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited22

BACKGROUND: Resilience has proved to be a versatile notion to explain why people are not defeated by hardship and adversity, yet so far, we know little of how it might apply to communities and cultures in low to middle income countries. AIM: This paper aims to explore the notion of resilience in cross-cultural context through considering the lived experience of internal migration. METHODS: A sample of 30 participants with experience of migration was recruited from a low-income slum dwelling neighbourhood in the city of Pune, India. These individuals participated in biographical narrative interviews in which they were encouraged to talk about their experience of migration, their adaptation to life in their new environment and making new lives for themselves. RESULTS: Participants referred to a variety of intra-individual and external factors that sustained their resilience, including acceptance of their circumstances, the importance of memory, hope for their children's futures as well as kindness from family friends and community members and aspects of the physical environment which were conducive to an improvement in their lives. CONCLUSIONS: By analogy with the widely used term 'idioms of distress', we advocate attention to the locally nuanced and culturally inflected 'idioms of resilience' or 'eudaemonic idioms' which are of crucial importance as migration and movement become ever more prominent in discussions of human problems. The nature and extent of people's coping abilities, their aspirations and strategies for tackling adversity, their idioms of resilience and eudaemonic repertoires merit attention so that services can genuinely support their adjustment and progress in their new-found circumstances

Mental health · Psychiatry · Psychological resilience · Resilience (materials science) · Health, psychology, and well-being · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Resilience and Mental Health · Social Psychology

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