‘Fighting him’: Following distress in hostile housing regimes

IF 5 2区医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Social Science & Medicine Pub Date : 2025-09-12 DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118581

Elizabeth Storer , Nikita Simpson , Ella Hubbard , Suad Duale

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Abstract

This study explores the psychological impacts of the UK housing crisis among a collective of Somali women in Birmingham. We build a framework from anthropological theories of social distress, applied through a participatory methodology consisting of housing biographies and therapeutic workshops. Research was conducted between June 2022–December 2023. Our findings reveal the cumulative forms of distress generated through poor housing, eviction and placement in temporary forms of accommodation. Such distress was articulated in multiple genres which spanned somatic, social reproductive, bureaucratic and psychological harms. Participants pushed back on biomedical categories of mental ill-health in relation to housing distress. We argue that hostile migratory contexts contour the expression of suffering generated through poor housing, particularly in relation to women's mental health. We suggest that ethnographic approaches can lead us beyond social determinants models, revealing forms of distress which accumulate across and within policy domains.

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“与他战斗”：在充满敌意的住房制度下陷入困境

本研究探讨了英国住房危机对伯明翰一群索马里妇女的心理影响。我们从社会困境的人类学理论中构建了一个框架，通过由住房传记和治疗讲习班组成的参与式方法进行应用。研究在2022年6月至2023年12月期间进行。我们的研究结果揭示了由于住房条件差、驱逐和安置在临时住所而产生的痛苦的累积形式。这种痛苦以多种形式表现出来，包括身体伤害、社会生殖伤害、官僚伤害和心理伤害。参与者对与住房困难有关的精神疾病的生物医学类别提出了异议。我们认为，敌对的移徙环境反映了因住房条件差而产生的痛苦，特别是在妇女心理健康方面。我们认为，民族志方法可以引导我们超越社会决定因素模型，揭示在政策领域内外积累的痛苦形式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Social Science & Medicine PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

5.60%

发文量

762

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Social Science & Medicine provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of social science research on health. We publish original research articles (both empirical and theoretical), reviews, position papers and commentaries on health issues, to inform current research, policy and practice in all areas of common interest to social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers. The journal publishes material relevant to any aspect of health from a wide range of social science disciplines (anthropology, economics, epidemiology, geography, policy, psychology, and sociology), and material relevant to the social sciences from any of the professions concerned with physical and mental health, health care, clinical practice, and health policy and organization. We encourage material which is of general interest to an international readership.