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. 2020 Dec 7:11:608577.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.608577. eCollection 2020.

"I Have No Hope": The Experience of Mothers in Polygamous Families as Manifested in Drawings and Narratives

Faten Gadban  1 , Limor Goldner  1
Affiliations

"I Have No Hope": The Experience of Mothers in Polygamous Families as Manifested in Drawings and Narratives

Faten Gadban et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Polygamy is associated with lower marital satisfaction and is known to involve sexual, physical, and emotional abuse on the part of the husband. Less is known about the experience of mothers in polygamous families. This study was designed to shed light on the experiences of women in polygamous families in a sample of 80 Israeli Arab mothers living in polygamous families who use social services, domestic violence agencies, and health centers. Mothers were asked to draw their experiences in their families and to provide narratives for the drawings. A phenomenological approach was used to analyze the drawings, and yielded five different pictorial phenomena: (1) pseudo-sweetness, (2) houses, (3) the absentee father and the estranged mother, (4) incorporation of graphic symbols and lettering that represented distress, and (5) growth and development. Most of the drawings were restricted and shallow, indicating a complex emotional state of despair and distress. The central feelings that emerged from the drawings were negative emotions of anger, sadness, loneliness, and powerlessness. While some women longed for romantic relationships with their husbands, others expressed the desire for revenge and justice. Dissociation and parentification, as central coping strategies, emerged from the drawings and the narratives. The findings are discussed theoretically and clinically.

Keywords: drawings; internal distress; mothers; polygamous families; rejection.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
An example of a “Pseudo Sweet” drawing.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
An Example of a “Pseudo Sweet” drawing.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
An example of a “House Drawing.”
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
An example of a “House Drawing.”
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
An example of “the Absentee Father or Mother” drawing.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
An example of “the Absentee Father or Mother” drawing.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
An example of a drawing incorporating written/graphic symbols.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
An example of a drawing incorporating written/graphic symbols.
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
An example of a growth/development drawing.
FIGURE 10
FIGURE 10
An example of a growth/development drawing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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