Who is the subject of trauma? An interdisciplinary scoping review of trauma and selfhood in the Arab region

Background

The Arab Region accounts for most of the world's refugees. Despite being dispersed across the globe, most of these refugees are internally displaced within the region. A growing body of research argues that Western biomedical frameworks for conceptualizing, diagnosing, and treating trauma may not be suitable for non-Western and trauma caused by political violence inflicted on entire populations over time. The cultural and socio/political contexts of trauma are increasingly recognized as key to understanding trauma-related distress. Arab trauma research has emerged in the past 30 years. Nevertheless, the results are not systematically consolidated.

Aim

This review aims to identify and map knowledge production in the Arab Region that is challenging Western notions of trauma experienced by Arab refugees in the region and attempts to explore the contours of a more culturally congruent conceptualization of trauma.

Method

Following the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), we conducted a scoping review. Peer-reviewed, empirical literature from 1990 to 2023 was searched in eight English and three Arabic databases.

Results and implications

Out of 2654 articles only ten were included. Included publications explored two main areas: conceptualization of trauma in Arab samples and addressing the subject of traumatization. The articles highlighted the limitations of using the PTSD model to diagnose and treat Arab refugees' traumatic stress and the importance of contextual, structural, and cultural factors in distress conceptualization. The articles provide research, clinical, and policy implications addressing adoption of social justice frameworks, development of contextually relevant trauma models, clinical investigations and assessment of symptoms and idioms.