Background
Characteristics | N |
---|---|
Age | |
< 34–39 | 3 |
40–45 | 4 |
> 45 | 7 |
Years in Norway | |
< 2 | 5 |
3–10 | 4 |
> 10 | 5 |
Fluency in Norwegian | |
Limited | 3 |
Beginner | 7 |
Intermediate | 3 |
Not stated | 1 |
Marital Status | |
Married/Cohabitating | 2 |
Separated/Divorced | 9 |
Widowed | 1 |
Single | 2 |
Monthly Income in Norwegian Kroner (NOK) | |
< 15,000 | 2 |
16,000-20,000 | 5 |
21,000-25,000 | 0 |
26,000-30,000 | 1 |
> 31,000 | 5 |
Not stated | 1 |
Approach and objective
Methods
Results
Description of the study sample
Stress
Settling in
When I arrived here, I had to learn to do everything by myself. Learning to do the paperwork by myself. My Norwegian partner did not know how to do anything. He knows Norwegian language but he did not know how to do the paperwork.
Loneliness
Their faces have a lot more stress than mine. In my case, I could turn to my daughter, we could go out together, eat together and do family activities together. A lot of Thais will face mental issues during Christmas, as people usually spend time with their families. For people who are alone, that day is the saddest day.
Finances
Stress, yes I’m stressed nearly every day. Every end of the month I’m stressed because there’s not enough money to pay out. That is my only stress. If I had enough money, or I had somebody to help me a little then I would not be stressed. You know you have to borrow money all the time, it’s not good.
The type of stress I cope with now is related to my recent break up with my Norwegian boyfriend. Now I just live with my daughter. I run a Thai massage parlor, I do not have a fixed income. Today I have income, but I might not have tomorrow. My life is like a balloon. You do not (know) when it is going to break. This is my stress.
Spousal relationships
They just pay for their beers, men here drink heavily. They also physically hit women too. I had to go to the police station. Many other Thai women here also face the same physically abusive experience, a lot. I even went to stay at a women’s shelter. See this was my life.
Another problem for Thai women who are married to a Norwegian man is that if she had children from a previous marriage, they will have problems understanding each other. The cultural and social background is different, like we are from Thailand”.
They knew each other from there (my work place) …. When I returned from Thailand, I was not allowed to go into the house that we used to live in together …. My ex-husband in the past he helped me financially but when he had a new woman, he stopped giving me money.
The city is fine and good. But for people in the countryside, here rural is very rural. From my own experience around midnight or one am in the morning my husband kicked me out from the house. I did not (know) where to go and get help at that time. In the city it is easy, you go out and there are people, but in the countryside you go out and there is no one.
It is the house that I first moved into when I married him. On the date that we broke off our relationship, he told me that he would not give me anything as I came here with nothing. What we bought together, we both helped to pay, which was not a problem for me. I told him that I wanted freedom, not the money.
Coping strategies
Emotion-focused coping
Changing the situation through problem based coping
I called Anne. I am fortunate to have Anne’s business card. I could not talk with the psychologist due to the language problem. I did not go to the Thai temple. I was helped by Anne. She took me to the doctors. The doctors saw me and they gave me a prescription for stress relief medications to take before going to sleep.
I think some people want to see psychologists but they are not brave enough to go. It’s like me, sometimes I think that I am so stressed out, it is like I am becoming crazy. But I am not able to talk with anyone. They are not brave, they are afraid of someone else looking at them negatively. For Thai people, seeing a psychologist is for someone who has completely lost their mind. But I do not think the same as Thai people living here because I faced mental health issues from my own experience. I was living with someone who had abnormal psychological conditions. Sometimes, I felt like I wanted to share my feelings with someone but they would not be able to accept it. Sometimes I want to see a psychologist to find out what has happened to me.