The 'Surrender Syndrome': Children of Rejected Asylum Seekers in Sweden 'Fall into Coma'

A rare phenomenon has occurred in Sweden where hundreds of children and adolescents from asylum-seeking families lose consciousness and fall into a state resembling 'coma' after hearing news of their application being rejected by the government. According to National Public Radio, this syndrome, known as uppgivenhetssyndrom, means giving up on life. Another name given to this condition is 'surrender syndrome.' These children refrain from moving, eating, drinking, speaking, or reacting to their surroundings for weeks, months, or even years, effectively entering a state akin to 'coma.' The New Yorker magazine, in an article titled 'The Psychological Blow of Deportation' published this week, examines this rare phenomenon. The visits of these children to hospitals in Sweden began in the early 2000s. Parents thought their children were dying, but they did not know from what. Rachel Aviv, the author of the article, states that these children enter this 'coma-like' state upon hearing the news of their families' asylum applications being rejected. The only known way to treat them is to hear news of their asylum acceptance and official residency in Sweden. However, it is not the case that these children immediately start moving, eating, or speaking upon hearing the acceptance news; rather, the process of restarting their lives may take days, weeks, or even months. According to Aviv, the visits of these children to hospitals in Sweden began in the early 2000s. Parents were concerned that their children might be suffering from a plague or an unknown type of plague. Soon, the only section for children in the Stockholm psychiatric hospital was taken over by these children. By 2005, more than four hundred children aged between eight and fifteen had been affected by this condition. In a scientific journal published in Sweden, these patients are described as: 'completely passive, immobile, without muscle strength, silent, unable to eat or drink, unresponsive to external movements or pain.' Almost all of these children came from families that had immigrated from the former Soviet Union or former Yugoslavia, or belonged to the Roma (Gypsy) communities of Europe. Sweden had long been recognized as a paradise for asylum seekers, having the highest acceptance rate for asylum applications among European countries. However, this situation changed in the 2000s, and asylum applications from families not coming from war-torn countries were rejected. In 2006, the Swedish government published a report on the condition of these children. This report proposed a theory for the occurrence of this phenomenon. Many of these children come from families with a 'collectivist' culture, where the boundaries between the individual, family, and society are very intertwined. According to this theory, these children sacrificed themselves for their families. They took on the role of a 'martyr' in their minds, as their illness became a reason for their families to remain in Sweden (the Swedish government granted residency to the families of these children). Although the incidence of this disease among migrant children has decreased, this syndrome still exists in Sweden. Last year, 60 cases of this illness were reported in Sweden. The medical community still does not know why this disease occurs only in Sweden.