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This panel, which dealt with several aspects of migration and their impact on identity, consisted of four analysts from different countries of origin. The two presenters were analysts working in Munich - both members of the German Psychoanalytic Society, but from different backgrounds. Hediaty Utari-Witt, a psychoanalyst born in Indonesia and trained in Munich, has been working for the last ten years with an increasing number of patients from Asia (Thailand and Vietnam), as well as from Iran, Morocco and Nigeria; Marco Conci, a psychoanalyst of Italian origin, also trained in Munich, treats mainly Italian patients; Aisha Abbasi, the discussant of the two presentations, is originally from Pakistan, and lives and practises in the USA; Romanian-born Ilany Kogan, the chair of the panel, lives and works in Israel.
The presenters illustrated the theme by describing two different cases, which were conducted in different languages. Dr Utari-Witt's patient was a Brazilian woman living in Germany, and the analysis was conducted in German, a second language for both members of the analytic couple. Dr Conci's patient was a young Italian woman residing in Germany, and the treatment was conducted in Italian - the primary language of both analyst and analysand.
The panel focused on two main issues connected to migration: problems of unresolved mourning and the role of language in psychoanalysis with migrants.
In their classic book, Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Migration and Exile, Grinberg and Grinberg (1989) claim that migration may involve various traumatic factors and may even be experienced as a catastrophic change, exposing the individual who experiences it to a period of disorganization, pain and frustration, accompanied by anxiety. In his later extensive exploration of the topic, Akhtar (1999) states that migration from one country to another is a complex psychosocial process with significant and lasting effects on an individual's identity. He believes that, even under the b