Resignation Syndrome

Resignation syndrome, also called traumatic withdrawal syndrome or traumatic refusal or abandonment syndrome, is a condition inducing a state of reduced consciousness that is not recognized by the World Health Organization as a valid psychiatric condition; it was first described in Sweden in the 1990s and predominantly affects psychologically traumatized children and adolescents in the midst of a strenuous and lengthy migration process. Affected young people reportedly develop depressive symptoms, become socially withdrawn, and become motionless and speechless in reaction to stress and hopelessness, and in the worst cases reject all food and drink and must be fed by tube, with the condition persisting for years in some cases; recovery, occurring over months to years, is claimed to depend on the restoration of hope to the family.