The Mental and Physical Trauma of “Dreamers” Living With Deportation Threats (sandiegofreepress.org)

Dana Brown (PACEs Connection Staff) 3/6/178:40 PM

After Daniela Vargas’ recent arrest, the future for DACA’s more than 750,000 recipients is more uncertain than ever. They need political support, but also safe spaces to process their anxiety.

A study published last year in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health found that young immigrants who received DACA felt relief from increased access to services and opportunities, such as health care, work placement, and expanded support networks. If Palacios loses DACA, she could no longer work legally. If she gets fired, then she loses her health insurance. If she loses her health insurance, she can’t go to the doctor to treat the symptoms she’s experiencing. She won’t have the money to support herself or her family, including her younger siblings. Palacios, 28, said this scenario runs through her mind “every single day.” It causes her severe anxiety, which leads to the migraines and the sleepless nights

“If you don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next, and you have no control over what’s going to happen—and that [it] may change the whole course of your life—you’re going to be at a high level of anxiety [and] all the symptoms that come with it,” said psychiatrist James Gordon, founder and director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C.

To read more of Annamarya Scaccia's article, please click here.

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Andi FetznerMember

The trauma response can be activated not only by abuse and neglect but also by general dysfunction. The ACEs study A stressful, unpredictable environment activates the same stress response internally. Lack of sleep and anxiety are appropriate responses, though troublesome, for being stressed but these are only short-term health consequences. If this stress is prolonged and the levels become toxic, we can expect difficulty in sustaining a job and a reduction of overall health.

Taking an integrated approach to services is necessary and organizations that consider the role of stress like The Center for Mind-Body Medicine , Hope Psychiatry, and The Center for Youth Wellness to name a few need to become the rule, not the exception.

Thank you for posting this, Dana.