Perspectives on Social Suffering in Interviews and Drawings of Palestinian Adults Crossing the Qalandia Checkpoint: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The current study examined the psychological experience of Palestinians who daily cross an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint to reach their schools or places of employment. The study employed an interpretative phenomenological analysis of semi-structured interviews and drawings to capture a depth insight regarding the psychological meaning of crossing the Qalandia checkpoint on a daily basis among 20 adult participants (10 males, 10 females). Three themes emerged. The first theme described deep feelings of distress and desperation and included the categories of humiliation and dehumanization, non-existence, rage, and pessimism and helplessness. The second theme concentrated on the participants’ coping strategies of avoidance and dissociation, which usually characterize maladaptive trauma coping style, as well as exhibited aggressiveness toward their fellow community members, while the third theme described the social fragmentation of the Palestinians’ solidarity. Furthermore, three pictorial phenomena emerged from the participants’ drawings: squared restricted drawings, the use of multiple black tiny objects, and the use of split drawings. These phenomena supported and validated participants’ verbal expressions. We suggest understanding these findings in light of the term “social suffering.”

The reflection of desire for revenge and revenge fantasies in drawings and narratives of sexually abused children

“…This represents a conflict between the willingness to revenge and the readiness to cope with the perpetrator, between the wish to punish and the fear of punishing a significant figure. The experience of being torn between fear to and of punishing a powerful figure was found in the Palestinians' drawings and narratives in the study by Nagamey et al (2018). All in all, three punishment forms were found: direct punishment (three drawers—exhibited in hanging the perpetrator naked on a tree, pinning the perpetrator's body and excluding the perpetrator from the family), by proxy (four drawers—exhibited in a religious symbol of God, lightning and thunderstorm, heart attack or car accident) and avoidance‐hesitant form (seven drawers—elimination of the perpetrator's figure, depersonalization of the victim, emptiness of the paper, etc.…”

Does Exergame Help Improve Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions, Knowledge and Motivation to Engage in Physical Activity?

“…Participants who did not consent or missed either drawings or the reflection videos were excluded from this study (n=5). The Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was adopted in this study to explore participants' perceptions and meanings between the Fitness RPG, their lives and the future teaching profession (Nagamey et al, 2018).…”

“…The second list was created from connecting keywords and clustered into three mains themed with sub-topics. A table was created to ease the understanding of ideas and produce superordinate themes related to this study (Nagamey et al, 2018). Importantly, both drawings and videos were compared, identified disagreements and looked for conformity between themes to ensure meaningful data interpretation.…”

“I Have No Hope”: The Experience of Mothers in Polygamous Families as Manifested in Drawings and Narratives

“…In a large proportion of the drawings, a large space was left blank, and the drawings only depicted tiny anonymous figures who lacked body parts such as hands and eyes and were drawn in a restricted, careless, and limited way. The drawings of tiny and anonymous figures is thought to indicate vulnerability, incompetence, powerlessness, and non-existence ( Nagamey et al, 2018 ), whereas a careless drawing indicates feelings of tension and anger toward the figure and is characteristic of an avoidant attachment style ( Fury et al, 1997 ). For example, in a study conducted by Lev-Wiesel and Kleinberg (2002) who treated a battered woman, all the participants drew themselves smaller in size than the husband figure.…”

“…This combination may reflect the psyche’s natural inclination to move from destruction to life and achieve a sense of control ( Lev-Wiesel, 2005 ). Empirically, several studies involving participants who endured “life-threatened experiences” (including adults who were sexually abused as children, earthquake victims, and Palestinian adults who must go through searches at Israel Defense Forces checkpoints to reach their schools or places of employment) revealed a substantial prevalence for red and black in their artworks ( Gregorian et al, 1996 ; Eisenbach et al, 2015 ; Nagamey et al, 2018 ). In the present study, black and red may have disclosed these women’s despair and agony, anger, and desire for retaliation and justice.…”