What the Armenian Experience Teaches Us About Forced Displacement

Belonging, tension, and resilience: The psychological impact of forced displacement.

This post is the first in a three-part series based on a 2023 qualitative study conducted by The Fund for Armenians Relief’s Child Protection Center (CPC) to explore the psychological and social dynamics of forced displacement, using Armenia’s integration of over 115,000 displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) as a contemporary case study. In Part 1, we examine how displacement disrupts identity and belonging and seek to understand the psychological impacts on both displaced individuals and host societies. Part 2 delves into intergroup dynamics, symbolic threats, and the experience of “ambivalent belonging.” Part 3 will focus on resilience, institutional roles, and long-term integration, with insights into therapeutic and policy-level interventions.

The Global Relevance of Armenia’s Case

Forced migration is a structural component of our modern geopolitical and socioeconomic landscape. According to The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 114 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to conflict, violence, and persecution as of 2023, a record number that continues to rise (UNHCR, 2023). While global in scale, the emotional and psychological realities of displacement are intensely local and personal.

In September 2023, over 115,000 ethnic Armenians were forced out of their homes in neighboring Nagorno-Karabakh and across the border into Armenia after a swift military occupation by Azerbaijan. Unlike the prolonged displacement in Ukraine, Sudan, and elsewhere, more than 90% of the ethnic Armenian population in the region was forcibly displaced in less than a week. Many had already been displaced once before, during previous waves of violence dating back to the 1990s.

This sudden and total exodus, amounting to an increase of more than 4% of Armenia’s total population, created immediate pressure on Armenia’s existing infrastructure and ongoing humanitarian support. In our efforts to understand the profound psychological impact on both the native and displaced populations, CPC conducted a qualitative study consisting of 18 focus groups (each comprising 18 displaced persons and 12 locals) and 30 semi-structured interviews in both urban and rural Armenian communities.

For clinicians, the Armenian case offers a rare, real-time look into the layered and nuanced dynamics of collective trauma, identity loss, and adaptation, all unfolding within an ethnically “shared” but socially and culturally diverse society.

The Identity Fracture of Displacement

The psychological rift caused by forced migration goes well beyond the impact of physical relocation; it is a profound interruption of continuity. As psychiatrist Irvin Yalom (1980) describes in his existential framework, trauma challenges one’s assumptions of safety, identity, and meaning. For many displaced Artsakh Armenians, the damage is compounded by repeated dislocations: “Life was ruined for me when we came. Once we left a home in Baku, the next time in Stepanakert,” one respondent told researchers.

This layering of trauma resonates with Lazarus’s (1991) model of experiential stress, which emphasizes that the subjective appraisal of threat, rather than the objective event itself, is the key mediator of psychological impact. In the case of Armenians from Artsakh, the displacement extends to the loss of home, autonomy, and political recognition and has created an ongoing state of existential insecurity.

Displaced individuals are often unable to fully reconcile the past with the present. While they may physically settle in a location, their internal orientation remains misaligned.

The Battleground of Belonging

At the core of the Artsakh-Armenia displacement crisis lies a paradox of ethnic unity and social alienation. In this case, the displaced persons share the same language, religion, and ethnicity as their host society, yet they are often perceived (and likewise often perceive themselves) as “others.” This paradox underpins a uniquely fragile sense of belonging.

Paul Ricoeur’s (1992) concept of sameness and otherness provides that belonging is not static but dialectical and relational. One Artsakh Armenian described the feeling as “being part of the whole and yet still outside of it.”

While displacement generates trauma, it also interrupts the social norms through which we define ourselves. “If the soul is to know itself, it must look into the soul of another: the stranger, the exile, the one who doesn’t belong…” wrote Jean-Bertrand Aristide. As clinical psychologists, our primary aim must be to understand how displaced individuals are seen (or not seen) by their new communities, as this will be at the heart of how we address all broader psychological issues.

These perceptions shape psychological resilience. According to the Integrated Threat Theory (Stephan & Stephan, 2000), perceptions of threat—symbolic or material—can increase hostility between groups. My study (2023)ethno-territorial found that locals often view Artsakh Armenians as “demanding” or “better off,” despite displaced individuals experiencing drastically higher unemployment (34% vs. the national 12.4%) and food insecurity (45%).

The Phantom Limb of Home

For many displaced persons, home becomes a “phantom limb.” Like an amputee who still experiences a post-op sensation, displaced individuals recognize their loss yet still feel its impact. The phrase captures the experience of identity being tethered to a physical space that no longer exists. In interviews, some Armenians explicitly rejected new legal identities: “Why should we change passports, lose the last hope and connection with our homeland?”

This sentiment reflects the concept of ethno-territorial identity continuity and the deep psychological investment in a place as both origin and aspiration. We must understand that for many refugees and IDPs (internally displaced persons), mourning the homeland is not just nostalgia; it is a mourning of self.

The sense of a phantom homeland often intensifies what Bauman (2000) calls double alienation, in which individuals are disconnected both from their new environment and the unreachable past. This can be diagnosed as depression or chronic anxiety, but it also demands narrative-based therapeutic frameworks that hold space for ambiguity and contradiction.

The Strain of Economic Dependency and Inequity

While identity disruption is a defining feature of forced migration, clinicians must also recognize the compounding role of scarcity and material deprivation. In our study, 70% of displaced respondents relied on food credit, and 59% were in informal debt, often for basic necessities like bread and heating fuel.

This economic dependency can create emotional strain and erode self-efficacy, a crucial factor in psychological resilience. Maslow (1968) tells us that unmet physiological and safety needs erode the foundation for higher psychological development.

In our case, the interdependence between locals and displaced persons creates opportunities for both solidarity and resentment. One local from Goris said, “We also have disadvantaged families here who are hungry… but there is no support, while Artsakh Armenians all receive money.” This tension risks framing aid recipients as “undeserving,” as explained in Lichnder’s (2016) theory of congruent social perception.

Clinical Implications: A Call for Contextualized Care

Several key takeaways apply on a global scale for clinicians working in resettlement from Armenia, Ukraine, Sudan, or the U.S.:

• Displacement is cumulative and layered. Trauma histories may involve multiple waves; each new displacement reactivates prior losses.
• Belonging is both internal and external. Therapeutic work should address not only personal adaptation but also the interpersonal and institutional cues that affect integration.
• Material stress and psychological health are entwined. Clinicians must advocate for cross-sector collaboration to address housing, employment, and legal insecurity as part of comprehensive care.
• Narrative therapy, existential therapy, and meaning-making frameworks (e.g., Frankl’s logotherapy) are particularly effective in contexts where loss is profound and permanent.