“Surviving Our History”: A Qualitative Examination of Continuous Traumatic Stress in a Sample of Afghan Women

Abstract

For decades, Afghanistan has been considered among the most dangerous places to be a woman. While attention in the psychological literature to Afghan women’s experiences has increased during the past 20 years, Afghan women’s voices are rarely privileged within this body of literature. The present study qualitatively explored the nature of threats to Afghan women. This study also aimed to explore the extent to which Kaminer, Eagle, and Crawford-Browne’s (2016) conceptual framework for continuous traumatic stress resonated with Afghan women’s lived experiences. A sample of 105 Afghan women identified by pseudonyms wrote a total of 345 nonfiction pieces; an additional 23 pieces were written anonymously. All were participants in the Afghan Women’s Writing Project (AWWP). From a total of 816 nonfiction works, 368 were selected through the application of five inclusion criteria. Data were analyzed through a two-stage process comprising an initial inductive thematic analysis of the essays and stories and subsequent mapping of emergent themes onto Kaminer et al.’s description of continuous traumatic stress. Forty-four themes contained within 12 domains were extracted from the data. The results, further grouped into three overarching areas, provide nuanced descriptions of threats to Afghan women as: 1) gender-based and pervasive across vital dimensions of personal and societal functioning; 2) primarily experienced as continuous, layered, and interactive, thereby making them dynamic in nature; and 3) profoundly impactful on Afghan women’s well-being. Findings suggest substantial congruence between the traumatic conditions many Afghan women experience on a continuous basis and Kaminer et al.’s characterization of continuous traumatic stress. Results also suggest continuous traumatic oppression further captures Afghan women’s experiences of structural forms of gender-based violence that are inherently dehumanizing. Practice implications include honoring (as opposed to pathologizing) ways Afghan women adapt to contexts of continuous trauma and supporting their adaptive, proactive ways of coping with ongoing traumatic stress and/or oppression. Research recommendations include the need for further study of writing as an effective method for coping with exposure to continuous traumatic stress and continuous traumatic oppression.