Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis)
There is scarce and conflicting information on how Turkish immigrants express, experience, and understand common mental health difficulties (CMHDs) as well as their preferences and needs. This conflict often emerges in the literature around symptom presentation and the causal attributions of CMHDs....
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Istanbul University Press
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Psikoloji Çalışmaları |
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| Online Access: | https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/3C414D2C928542B2B7472B6D42001969 |
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| author | Ayşe Akan Gill Green Frances Blumenfeld |
| author_facet | Ayşe Akan Gill Green Frances Blumenfeld |
| author_sort | Ayşe Akan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is scarce and conflicting information on how Turkish immigrants express, experience, and understand common mental health difficulties (CMHDs) as well as their preferences and needs. This conflict often emerges in the literature around symptom presentation and the causal attributions of CMHDs. Since inconsistent information may have real life consequences for Turkish immigrants it is important to investigate this area. The aim of this review was to explore the experiences and understandings of common mental health difficulties ofTurkish immigrants. A systematic review using thematic synthesis adopted from Thomas & Harden (2008) was conducted to evaluate the existing literature. CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycArticles and PsychInfo were searched. Onlyqualitative studies conducted with Turkish immigrants with lived experience were included (n = 10). The analysis was data-driven (inductive) leading to three themes with twelve subthemes being generated. Participants reported experiencing both emotional and physical symptoms. They linked their distressto significant life events and chronic adverse conditions, interpersonal conflict, immigration and discrimination related problems and problematic encounters with healthcare workers. Traditional/spiritual and biological understandings of mental health were also discussed. Family and social support, personal resources, and the utilisation of medical and traditional/ spiritual resources were reported as coping strategies, though some were sceptical about the latter. This review found that Turkish immigrants experienced and expressed their distress in both emotional and physical terms, just like many other communities. Their understandings were mainly psychosocial but contained elements of biomedical and traditional models. Since research in this area is limited, further and better research is recommended. Policy makers and practitioners are also advised to provide meaningful and effective care for every community, including Turkish immigrants. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-25c41b0a6e2f4269a46ffef55f25e17f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2602-2982 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Istanbul University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Psikoloji Çalışmaları |
| spelling | doaj-art-25c41b0a6e2f4269a46ffef55f25e17f2025-08-20T02:57:22ZengIstanbul University PressPsikoloji Çalışmaları2602-29822023-08-0143221525410.26650/SP2022-1041055123456Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis)Ayşe Akan0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2870-9930Gill Green1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4245-1961Frances Blumenfeld2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0982-6381University of Essex, Colchester, United-KingdomUniversity of Essex, Colchester, United-KingdomUniversity of Essex, Colchester, United-KingdomThere is scarce and conflicting information on how Turkish immigrants express, experience, and understand common mental health difficulties (CMHDs) as well as their preferences and needs. This conflict often emerges in the literature around symptom presentation and the causal attributions of CMHDs. Since inconsistent information may have real life consequences for Turkish immigrants it is important to investigate this area. The aim of this review was to explore the experiences and understandings of common mental health difficulties ofTurkish immigrants. A systematic review using thematic synthesis adopted from Thomas & Harden (2008) was conducted to evaluate the existing literature. CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycArticles and PsychInfo were searched. Onlyqualitative studies conducted with Turkish immigrants with lived experience were included (n = 10). The analysis was data-driven (inductive) leading to three themes with twelve subthemes being generated. Participants reported experiencing both emotional and physical symptoms. They linked their distressto significant life events and chronic adverse conditions, interpersonal conflict, immigration and discrimination related problems and problematic encounters with healthcare workers. Traditional/spiritual and biological understandings of mental health were also discussed. Family and social support, personal resources, and the utilisation of medical and traditional/ spiritual resources were reported as coping strategies, though some were sceptical about the latter. This review found that Turkish immigrants experienced and expressed their distress in both emotional and physical terms, just like many other communities. Their understandings were mainly psychosocial but contained elements of biomedical and traditional models. Since research in this area is limited, further and better research is recommended. Policy makers and practitioners are also advised to provide meaningful and effective care for every community, including Turkish immigrants.https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/3C414D2C928542B2B7472B6D42001969depressionanxietycommon mental health disordersexplanatory modelscausal attributionssomatisationculture |
| spellingShingle | Ayşe Akan Gill Green Frances Blumenfeld Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis) Psikoloji Çalışmaları depression anxiety common mental health disorders explanatory models causal attributions somatisation culture |
| title | Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis) |
| title_full | Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis) |
| title_fullStr | Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis) |
| title_short | Physical Symptoms or Somatisation? Turkish Immigrants’ Experiences and Understandings of Common Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review (Thematic Synthesis) |
| title_sort | physical symptoms or somatisation turkish immigrants experiences and understandings of common mental health difficulties a systematic review thematic synthesis |
| topic | depression anxiety common mental health disorders explanatory models causal attributions somatisation culture |
| url | https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/3C414D2C928542B2B7472B6D42001969 |
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