The Relevance of Immigration in the Psychodynamic Formulation of Psychotherapy with Immigrants

The main goal of this article is to highlight the relevance of the immigration process in psychodynamic psychotherapy with immigrants. Conceived of as a general phenomenon, immigration challenges the stability of the individual's psychic structure and family organization and it has significant transgenerational implications. Its psychodynamics includes interrelated processes of mourning, discontinuity of identity and imbalance of self-esteem. Clinically, in the psychodynamic formulation of the adult immigrant's unique experiences, behaviors and symptoms, immigration operates as a complex precipitating factor, and its three interrelated processes need to be contextualized in the patient's history, organization of identifications and defenses, central conflicts and system of beliefs and ideals. In order to capture the intersection of personal, familial and cultural meanings, the conceptual framework for the psychodynamic formulation of psychotherapy cases includes intrapsychic, interpersonal and cultural dimensions of psychic reality. The theoretical foundation of this article draws on the integration of relational psychoanalysis and social cognition. The outcome of the psychological process of immigration is considered to depend not only on the restructuring of dynamic aspects but also on non-dynamic factors such as the immigrant's age, socioeconomic background, linguistic and cultural differences, forced or voluntary migration, and the possibility of revisiting the country of origin. Two psychotherapy case presentations illustrate the three interacting processes of the psychodynamics of immigration formulated in the context of each immigrant's history and personality from a psychodynamic framework that includes intrapsychic, interpersonal and cultural perspectives.