Beyond The Clinic: A Psychosocial Politics Of Queer* Trauma And Lgbtqıa+ Mental Health In Türkiye

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b3422558

This dissertation examined the psychosocial politics of queer* trauma and LGBTQIA+ mental health in Türkiye, presenting a comprehensive analysis of how systemic cisheteronormative oppression insidiously affects the lived experiences of queer* and trans* individuals. Employing a transdisciplinary approach that engages with diverse literatures from psychoanalysis, queer theory, psychosocial studies, cultural studies, and trauma studies, this research challenges conventional narratives and studies of trauma and trauma-related mental health outcomes by resituating them within broader sociopolitical contexts that unsettle the divide between the psychological and the social. Through a mixed-method approach, the author investigates both the quantitative findings from the self-report data on various clinical trauma-stress outcomes, and a series of in-depth interviews with LGBTQIA+ persons in Türkiye. Advocating for an understanding that is attuned to the cultural, social, and political dimensions of traumatic experiences, the author highlights the continuous and pervasive impact of persistent, everyday discrimination and violence on the mental well-being of queer/trans* people in Türkiye. The study illustrates how cisheteronormative oppression not only causes queer* trauma but also perpetuate the conditions that continue to harm the psychological and relational well-being of queer* and trans* people. While the author demonstrates how resilience and agency are remobilized within these communities to resist systemic oppression, it also highlights how cisheteronormative majority projects their repudiated desires, and how this may culminate in the internalizations of these abjections by queer and trans* people. Finally, the author calls for further research and activist work to develop inclusive political environments and effective clinical practices that will support traumatized LGBTQIA+ people.