Chapter 10: An Intersectional Understanding of Immigration Trauma: A Case of Rumination Syndrome in an Adolescent Girl From Ecuador

In this chapter, we present a review of the pertinent literature on immigration trauma and acculturative stress, as well as the dynamic interaction between rumination syndrome (RS), severe mood dysregulation, and complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). We then follow with a case study that highlights the intersections of cultural adaptation after immigrating to the United States (US) with a rare medical diagnosis (i.e., RS) and recovering from a psychological trauma. We consider how individual cultural adaptations after completing migration into the US may influence the expression of depressive, anxious, and obsessive symptoms.

A constant influx of families and individuals immigrate to the US each year. Many face treacherous terrain, hunger, and human exploitation as they seek better lives: