Intergenerational Control, Trauma, Coping and Survival: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of Clinical Case Histories in Conservative SocioCultural Contexts among Indian Families

Abstract

This qualitative research study is based on a collection of 20 detailed clinical case summaries of participants of Indian ethnicity from Urban backgrounds documenting key areas such as their early relational adversity, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), psychological sequelae, coping mechanisms and socio-cultural constraints. Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) (by Braun & Clarke, 2022) has been employed to analyse this qualitative dataset as this approach is best suited to identify patterns of meaning and creating themes across heterogenous cases without forcing a single theory. As the life experiences of participants are both varied and complex in nature this qualitative method proves useful as it foregrounds important attributes such as researcher’s reflexivity, interpretive depth and conceptual coherence as it is not a linear process. Across the whole dataset, distress did not emerge as an isolated symptom but as a cumulative suffering conceived by multiple maladaptive dynamics such as authoritarian family environments, sexual victimization, emotional neglect, achievement pressure, financial scarcity, marital distress and gendered socio-cultural expectations. These patterns display congruence by clearly showing that maltreatment as a child through adverse childhood experience (ACEs) are associated with a multitude of psychological sequelae such as anxiety, depression, suicidality, substance-related issues and interpersonal difficulties during adulthood. Five major themes have emerged out of this qualitative dataset namely: authoritarian family environments and the erosion of selfhood; sexual violation, bodily shame and mistrust; achievement pressure, failure and conditional worth; marriage, gendered burden and relational deprivation; and finally, survival through overcontrol, avoidance and compensatory coping. The findings suggest that the aspects of psychological suffering are better grasped as it unfurls across different phases of one’s lifetime through the interplay of various factors such as interpersonal and relational trauma, coercive control, material instability and precarity and structural inequalities that include patriarchy, restrictive and entrenched gender expectations, family honour and limited autonomy. This paper advocates for trauma-informed; culturally relevant, sensitive and sustaining; and for gender responsive and inclusive formulations that address both symptom signs and exhibition as well as the social worlds in which distress is produced, perpetuated and continued.