Patriarchal Structures in the Context of Flight, Migration, and Integration: A Human Rights-Oriented Four-Framework Model of Psychosocial-Therapeutic Practice

Abstract

This article develops a human rights-oriented approach to psychosocial and therapeutic practice for addressing patriarchal structures in the context of forced migration. It is based on the observation, drawn from practical work with refugees, that many clients are exposed to patriarchal relations of power and violence that lead to severe psychosocial stress and traumatic experiences. To address this problem, the Four-Framework Model of Inter Homines is introduced, integrating sociopoliti­cal, psychosocial, psychotherapeutic, and trauma-focused perspectives. – Within the sociopolitical framework, the concept of Normative Empowerment aims to promote the human rights-based em­powerment of politically persecuted persons. The psychosocial framework uses the model of Dyna­mic Containing and the metaphor of the “House of Health” to describe key stabilizing elements of psychosocial work. Within the psychotherapeutic framework, the symbolic “therapeutic scale”  il­lustrates different therapeutic approaches, while the trauma-focused framework highlights narrative exposure in the form of the testimonio. – Finally, this practical work is situated within a broader his­torical and human-rights-philosophical perspective. Overcoming patriarchal violence thus appears as a long-term process of transformation that connects individual empowerment with structural so­cial change and could, in the long term, be embedded in a human rights-based Global Union.