Peer reviewed – survey - humans
From relentless cycles of intrusive memories to loneliness and physical pain - a new study form the University of East Anglia reveals the struggles of refugees who entered the UK as unaccompanied minors.
Researchers interviewed refugees who fled Afghanistan as children and endured family separation, human rights abuses, and violence.
Their stories show years of silent suffering, human resilience, and the need for social connection.
Dr Kenny Chiu, clinical lecturer from UEA's Norwich Medical School. said: "Unaccompanied child refugees have lost family, safety and a sense of home, and many have been exposed to traumatic events on their journey.
"Compared to children who arrive with relatives, these young people tend to have gone through more trauma and are more likely to struggle with things like PTSD or depression.
"Until now, there has been very little research on how former unaccompanied child refugees from the same cultural background cope with a new life in the UK.
"We wanted to change that, so we sat down with them, listened to their stories, and let their own words guide the research."
How the research happened
Lead author Dr Rebecca Lane carried out the study while she was a trainee clinical psychologist at UEA's Norwich Medical School.
She interviewed 12 refugees who had arrived in the UK from Afghanistan as unaccompanied children.
They were recruited through a therapeutic community organisation supporting young survivors of exile, and most interviews were conducted with the help of an interpreter.
"We wanted to better understand, in their own words, their resilience and coping strategies, and how these strategies changed over time," said Dr Lane.
Haunted by memories they can't escape
"Their difficulties often overlapped or built on one another. In many cases, one challenge got in the way of coping with another, which made it harder for people to find strategies that really helped. This tended to create difficult cycles that were hard to break.
"For example, mental and physical pain often occurred together. Physical pain would stop people leaving the house, exercising or spending time with friends - which then made their mental health and feelings of isolation worse," she said.
Coping with distress
To cope, most kept busy to distract their minds from the past. A small minority described using alcohol and engaging in self‑harm – signs, the researchers say, that indicate the depth of distress that many carry.
Social connection emerged as the single most powerful buffer against distress.
Activities like cricket, praying, or having conversations with friends eased the relentless churn of anxiety and distressing thoughts or memories.
However, some described deep loneliness and faced barriers to connecting with others, such as difficulties with trust, hypervigilance, or not having the social skills to develop friendships.
Participants also often described feeling isolated while growing up, recalling early years when parents were consumed with worry about the family's safety, mistrustful of others, or simply preoccupied by caring for a large family.
They also spoke about keeping challenges to themselves, often because emotional vulnerability was discouraged by cultural expectations of boys, alongside feelings of shame and strong values around pride and honour.
The team found that this emotional "shutdown" often continued as they settled down in the UK, leaving young refugees socially isolated at the very time they most needed support.
Therapists step in as substitute families
Dr Lane said: "Services and professionals were often identified as a foundation to coping.
"For example, therapy offered a safe space where young refugees could learn to talk about their feelings and be more open.
"They positioned professionals as pseudo parental figures, who cared for them and taught them key skills to build relationships and navigate life independently, on top of the practical support they received to help them access education, housing and asylum.
"We also found that religion brought comfort to many participants. Their coping strategies reflected the mix of cultural influences around them and the way their sense of identity was developing as they became adults."
Sheila Melzak, former director of the Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile and a consultant child and adolescent psychotherapist, said: "This study shows that young refugees arrived unaccompanied as children all show vulnerabilities and resilience.
"Resilience was most likely to develop and be sustained when opportunities to learn were combined with relationships with adults and peers.
"Alongside this, young refugees needed space to reflect on experiences that were, for psychological and cultural reasons, initially unspeakable. These included grief at the loss of parents, experiences of violence, corruption, and human rights abuses.
"They also faced big differences between their home culture and the culture of exile, including expectations about what it means to be a young person."
This research was led by UEA in collaboration with Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile, and Beigi & Chiu Clinical Psychology.
'Coping among Afghan former unaccompanied refugee children in the UK: A qualitative study exploring barriers and influences over time' is published in Transcultural Psychiatry.
