Bilingualism and Sense of Self

The field of bilingualism has been extensively studied by linguists, psychologists, and sociologists.1 Although the existing literature offers a wide diversity of views, these judgments agree that the bilingual experience has major effects on the individual's personality formation and integration.2-6 Early authors have stressed its detrimental effects on the emotional and intellectual stability of the person. Thus, Sander referred to the “bilinguality of feelings” and the “mercenary relativism” of bilinguals who switch principles and values as they switch languages.7 Henss contended that bilinguals become subject to an inner split and in their struggle for becoming “one” they suffer intellectual and moral deterioration.8 Bilingualism has also been thought to be a predisposing factor towards schizophrenia,9 and mental retardation.10, 11 Most of these pessimistic judgments seem to share the rationale of an implication chain by which two languages imply two personalities, which in turn imply psychodynamic conflict. In more recent years, however, when bilingualism has been studied independently of other, often concomitant, stressful sociological variables (e.g., migration, acculturation, biculturalism, social marginality), the conclusions have been surprisingly different. In fact, it now appears that having two languages may help some individuals to become more flexible, superior in concept formation, and more diversified in their mental abilities.12-15

The interest of clinicians in bilingualism has been rather limited and relatively recent. In general, two major factors and their effects on psychotherapy have been considered—namely, the language barrier and the language independence. The language barrier refers to the problems involved in having to process information and communicate in a nondominant, poorly commanded language;16-22 the language independence has to do with the capacity of some proficient bilinguals to maintain two independent systems of language and its