Psychological Analysis of an Interview: A Case Study of Psychological Sufferings of an Immigrant in the United States

Transcript

Interviewer: Student
Interviewee: Student
Interview setting: A public place
Affiliation with interviewee: The interviewer was a senior schoolmate of the interviewee.
Interview transcript

Question no. 1: How old were you when you move to the United States? Why did you move?

My parents moved to America when I was 10 years old and my sister was 13 years old. I have 2 younger siblings, who are born in America. We moved to America for enhancing the quality of life and economic growth.

Question no. 2: Did you have any friend or family member here when you moved to America?

When we immigrated to America, there were no friends and family member of ours here.

Question no. 3: What did you do (profession and education) in your home country before you came to the United States?

I was a studying in 4th standard in school.

Question no. 4: Do you think you like your life in the United States (“I like it very much’’ or “I like it more than I dislike it’’ or “I dislike it more than I like it’’ or ‘’ I very much dislike it’’)?

I dislike my life here. I have 2 younger siblings who were born in America. Sometimes, I hate how privileged they are compared to me and my sister who was born in our home country. They get free doctor and dentist visits while we don’t have such facilities. Is it my fault to be born in another country? I did not know about immigration until recently and I cried for days.

Question no. 5: Do you feel happy here or do you believe you would be happier if you lived now in your home country?

I am 16 years old now and want to get admission in college. I don’t know how I will be paying for college dues, as I want to become an engineer. I don’t even have a work permit. It hurts to see everyone else is getting jobs and licenses, whereas I’m just stuck with nothing. I feel so helpless and sometimes I wonder why my parents even decided to come here. There is nothing for us here. I think life would be happier if we were living in our home country.

Question no. 6: What would you do differently in your life here in America if you had a chance?

First of all, I would like to complete my studies and search for a good job or to establish my own business. Secondly, I would like to work for immigrants, their self-respect, and job opportunities. If I will start a business and my preference for hiring employees would be an immigrant.

Question no. 7: Imagine you talk to a 17-year-old person who wants to immigrate to America, what advice would you give to this person?

I will suggest such a person to concentrate on his studies, finish them, and then move to the United States. I will also suggest him to make a bright future in his own homeland with his  family. If I find the student extremely excited about immigration, I will suggest him be prepared to face many hard situations and encourage himself to cope with disappointment. Only then will he be able to achieve his goals.

Question no. 8: Give this person three best, from your view, suggestions about what she or he has to do to be successful in the United States.

I will suggest being strong, patient, and persistent towards their goals. If one moves to another country, he or she has to face racism, ethnicity, and minority issues, so they need to learn to fight for their rights with courage and patience. 

Psychological Analysis 

The context

    An interview was conducted in a shopping mall with the Immigrant student regarding the psycho-social sufferings of the immigrants in the United States. Being a public place, the mall was very crowded and distracted as well. After the usual greetings, the interviewee was invited for an interview with the warm greetings. Initially, the students showed some anxiousness, and reluctant to share his personal opinion or experiences. However, considering the prior interaction in school, he agreed to take the interview.
Initially, the client appeared to be a little uncomfortable as he sat at the edge of his chair. He was staring at the crowd or spaces while giving answers, which was indicating his state of lost mind. From this behavior, he was assessed to be conscious, but as the interview proceeded, gradually he appeared to be relaxed and comfortable. It was also observed that the interviewee’s moods and internal states were fluctuating as per the questions. For instance, he showed good facial and body language signs while answering the question no 8, and was observed to have a disappointment through low voice tone and pitch while stating the questions no. 5 and 6. Somehow, the interviewee was establishing the eye contact, but he did not maintain eye contact while confessing his failures. The interviewee took substantial interval before giving statements, it was obvious that he thought about his answers well and assessed what would be appropriate to say rather than giving priority to what is fact. The nonverbal behaviors significantly revealed his internal mental conditions rather than verbal statements.
The overall observation of the interviewee behavior indicated that he was dissatisfied with his present condition. His voice tone, pitch, mood, posture, and gesture showed his level of dissatisfaction, anxiousness, and low self-esteem. Regardless of this, he was also assessed to be hopeful regarding his future by the energy he showed during a discussion of his future plans.

The Demeanor of the Interviewee

    The information of the interview was assessed through the current trends in psychology, e.g. Bio, Psycho, and Social model. Biologically, it was assessed that the temperament of the interviewer was having a lack of inhibitory control, and prone to get depressive and self-centered to some extent. The psycho model was revealing his internal and external conflict regarding family, his thinking pattern, schemas, belief system, feelings, behaviors, cognitive errors and use of defense mechanism as well. The social model defines the role of society and culture, in developing the negative and antisocial behavior. On observing the overall demeanor of the interviewee, it can be said that he was an introvert person. According to the bio model, he was reluctant to share his personal experiences or current status in the United States, but gradually he overcame his anxiousness and gave a description of his physical and mental states. According to psycho model, his answers were indicating his conflicts were both family and country oriented. He was hesitant to share his failures in the adjustment, financial, and social issues in the US. This shows that he was not ready to take responsibility for his failures. He was using a defense mechanism to protect himself and accusing the country’s policies of all mishaps.
After an analysis, it can be said that he used country policies to hide his family conflicts. Statements like “Sometimes I hate how privileged my siblings are because they are born in America,” shows his disappointment and miserable condition. These answers indicate his frustration toward his family as they are having social and economic support from the United States government while he is deprived. This statement points out the true problem and relevant factors. He was also found to be aggressive towards his parents because he accused them of his current condition and considered their decision wrong for his future. He thinks that if they were in their homeland, the situation could have been different and he would have been able to complete studies. 
According to Freud (1993), a psychological problem emerges in homes with an unfair comparison between siblings, unfair parental decisions, parents’ mutual conflicts and the parent-child relationship. According to the Social model, the interviewee was not receiving equal rights as compared to his American siblings, which was the main cause for him to isolate from the society and his parents as well. Researches suggest that if a conflict arises between parent-child relationships, more chances prone for a child to become socially isolated or introvert and less likely to share personal problems with other people. According to Pandora (2001), a sense of trust develops at home. If the child finds himself rejected by parents, he is more likely to develop a negative perception towards self, other and the world. Beck called it a cognitive triad, and according to him, cognitive distortions play a central role in the development of an unhealthy mind and body. The unfair comparison from parents between siblings also creates a sense of distress, as many studies have been conducted on the sibling comparison, and the results of these studies indicated that the if the two or more children continually being compared by the parents there are more chances to develop an inferiority complex, isolation, depression, and anxiety. The interviewee was the second elder among siblings; studies also suggest that the elder and middle child encounter the more psychological problem and keep negative opinion towards parent regarding violation of rights and needs.
    There is need to develop a positive self-concept of the interviewee, and psycho-education should be given to the client in order to make him understand that what is the role of thinking in causing trouble to cope with the stressor. The modification in thoughts can alter the feeling and feelings lead to appropriate behavior. The cognitive tirade was necessary to elaborate which explain the relationship between, the self, the world, and the future. If the person considers him worthless and doesn’t effort for the future betterment, as a result, he began to develop a negative schema about the world and began to get mentally sick. On the other side, if the person faces trouble, but he finds himself worthy, he develops positive hopes about the future and put efforts for achieving the goals, as a result, positive perception towards the world emerge and a healthy mind and body grow as well. The appropriate psycho-education and counseling direct him towards the right path to achieve all his goals from which he had been deprived.

Personal Views on Immigration

In my own perception, there are so many problems that immigrants experience during psychological and socio-cultural adaptation, which diversely affects their mental and physical health. From a psychological perspective, mental health is defined by the level of adaptation, if the person easily adapted to the different environment, this indicates that the person has a healthier mind and positive approach. No measures may define adaptation while moving from one culture to another immigrant go through “culture shock’’, which has significant consequences for their well-being. Immigrants have to face two kinds of adaptations in the new cultures: the first is a socio-cultural adaptation, which is based on the culture, and learning approach in which a person had to adopt the norms, rituals, tradition, and rules and regulations of that culture, and reflects the ability to engage in constructive interaction. Secondly, a psychological adjustment that facilitates the immigrant’s positive appraisal of situations, a sense of well being, and general satisfaction with life. Psychological adaptation reflects a vital issue for immigrants’ health, as many studies have shown that immigrants suffer from a more emotional distress than the host populations. Studies show that a positive relationship between educated people and adjustment, and the reason might be their sense of knowledge regarding other cultures. An adaptation of immigrants refers to the process of “fitting in” to the society and functioning successfully in a new environment. Poor adaptation patterns among immigrants are related to increased levels of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and other psychological problems. A comparative study was conducted between male and female to assess the level of adaptation. The results indicated that females have better adaptation ability than males because females were found to be more flexible in their attitude and behavior towards adaptation in the environment. Ethnicity also plays a vital role in immigrant’s adjustment, but the only thing which can be helpful to control the situation is intrinsic motivation, determination, and flexibility towards circumstance.

Reflection and Learning

    The interview was very informative and gave a clear picture of how people think and feel during the phase of immigration. Through this interview, I learned a lot about people’s words and reactions; do they speak what they exactly feel? When and how do they use defense mechanisms? What type of cognitive errors they have?  What is the role of schema and belief system in understanding and interpretation of events, as a person who has a negative belief system about any culture? As in the current interview, the interviewee had developed a negative schema about the United States, because he has been deprived of any alliances, he couldn’t understand and appreciate that his siblings were highly privileged by the same culture.
I personally believe that the Beck Cognitive Model gives the fine description that our thinking process elicits every kind of depression, anxiety anger, and frustration that we have. I also learned how immigrants can get rid of tension, anxiety, and depression by modifying our thoughts. The interview also helped me understand the difficulties faced by immigrants, which highlighted that life in the US is not a bed of roses. Rather, a strong stamina is required to face the racism, ethnicity, and social normative rules and regulations. The interview also helped me to understand how family conflicts negatively affect the mental well-being of a person. Healthy parent-child relationships can make a person stronger to cope with stress. Additionally, a healthy mind can make more constructive plans for the future. Conclusively, the interview was very informative and highlighted the significant aspect of psychological suffering among immigrants. Such an informative interview should be conducted to understand the current phenomena regarding cognitive behavioral processes so that symptoms of current problems could be identified to design management plans.