What is it about?
Afghan refugees evacuated to South Korea often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to both war-related trauma and challenges in adapting to Korean society. We show that cultural differences, language barriers, and social isolation make their mental health worse and slow down their ability to integrate. This is especially difficult in South Korea’s highly homogeneous society, where mental health services are not always culturally appropriate. Using trauma theory and ecological systems theory, we identify how both past trauma and current stressors affect refugees’ well-being and argue that trauma-informed, culturally sensitive care is urgently needed.
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Why is it important?
We investigate the psychological distress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by Afghan refugees resettled in South Korea, with a focus on how pre-migration trauma and post-migration challenges like language, culture, and isolation affect their mental health. This is important because South Korea, despite its growing role in international humanitarian support, has limited experience and infrastructure tailored to culturally sensitive, trauma-informed refugee care. Two significant contributions of this study are that: a) we show how South Korea’s societal homogeneity and limited multicultural systems uniquely magnify the psychological strain on Afghan refugees, particularly “special contributors” resettled after the 2021 evacuation; b) we combine trauma theory and ecological systems theory to map the complex, layered interplay between past violence and current systemic barriers, a perspective rarely applied in this regional context. This research is timely and urgently needed as South Korea expands its participation in global refugee resettlement. It offers a blueprint for building more inclusive, psychologically aware integration strategies in societies unfamiliar with cultural pluralism.
Perspectives
I hope this article helps people see that behind headlines about refugees are real lives, real pain, and real resilience. It’s easy for conversations about migration and mental health to stay abstract full of policy terms and distant data. But for the Afghan refugees I write about, PTSD isn’t a clinical concept it’s a daily reality, shaped by both the traumas they escaped and the isolation they still face. What I hope this article does is bridge that emotional distance. South Korea isn’t traditionally thought of as a refugee-hosting nation, and that makes it even more important to listen, to learn, and to act with care. These individuals aren't just “resettled” they’re rebuilding lives, often in silence. If this piece can open a few minds or soften a few judgments, it’s done its job. And if it encourages just one policymaker, counselor, or neighbor to approach refugees with more empathy and trauma awareness, then that’s a real step toward healing not just for them, but for all of us.
Abdullatif Ghafary
Yonsei University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Integration Challenges Among Afghan Special Contributors in South Korea, Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, May 2025, SciVision Publishers LLC,
DOI: 10.33425/2833-5449.0019.
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