Trauma & (forced) migration—a global issue

Trauma and (forced) migration have become signatures of our time. Possibly never before in history, have this many people been afflicted by persecution, war and poverty and as a result have had to migrate as today: There are currently more than 60 million migrants and refugees seeking asylum in countries far away. This is an unprecedented number, even greater than during and following WW 2. Migration and exile have occurred at this large scale because of wars in the Middle East, most recently in Syria and Yemen and political oppression and violence in countries such as Venezuela. The numbers of refugees from South to North America and in countries within South America such as from Venezuela and Peru to countries such as Argentina and Chile are escalating. In addition, there is constant threat and dire economic need for many people in Africa to continue to seek a better life for themselves and their families. Although there are many Africans who seek migration to Europe there are many more who migrate within Africa to neighbouring countries.

In making journeys of hundreds or thousands of miles, many have experienced severe trauma, loss, violence, human trafficking and separation from their families. Many migrants are turned back at e.g. European borders and sent to unsuitable, overcrowded detention camps where they experience further trauma, and danger of death. The losses are experienced, both in their regions of origin, en route and on arrival. Furthermore refugees have to cope with insecurity, racism and involuntary immobility long after their arrival.

What can psychoanalysis do to help?

Migrants and refugees often suffer from mental health problems, having experienced crises caused by dislocation from their homes, with a loss of all that is familiar and their sense of belonging. This may lead to identity issues, especially in younger people.

All sequences of migration are potentially traumatic and harbor specific risks, but the constantly recurring theme is a loss of the containing object—the “home”. If these crises remain untreated, the traumatic experiences may lead to chronic psychological symptoms or illnesses such as depression, anxiety or PTSD.

The crisis of migration may result in personal catastrophe, or creative inner development, with enrichment of the personality—and their new homes. On the one hand people experience sadness, anxiety, nostalgia and severe pain of loss; on the other they carry hope and expectation. They brought enthusiasm, commitment, dedication, and worked hard with hopes of success in their new homelands.

Our mission

Part of our mandate as the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) and Humanitarian Organizations Committee is to collect data about the psychoanalytic work in the humanitarian field worldwide. In so doing, we hope to foster relationships between psychoanalysts and humanitarian organizations and develop networks to enhance an interchange of experiences both within and without the IPA. Our endeavor is to intensify networking between different groups in order to stimulate and enrich each other and to learn from the different experiences. Promoting psychoanalytic research on trauma and (forced) migration is part of that. In addition, we hope to motivate other colleagues to get involved in working with refugees and migrants, because we think that psychoanalysis—as a science of the unconscious—has a unique conceptual and clinical contribution to make. Mainly because the psychoanalytic community itself shares a history of migration and exile. A contribution to understanding the short and long-term consequences of migration and trauma, as well as to the therapeutic and preventive treatment of them.

As part of our various activities regarding refugees, trauma and migration we like to establish an online database of psychoanalytic work in the humanitarian field. This collection shall give a quick and accessible overview and motivate to dig deeper. For the contributions we don't want to define any specific requirements, only give rough guidelines. We encourage you to write short summaries or abstracts (for research), which—in a nutshell—illustrate your work. We hope the collection will draw a multifaceted picture of your and our work, but therefore we need your help!