Enduring Migration through the Life Cycle

Migration in the last decades resulted in mayor conflicts in all aspects of society. This book addresses the psychological response to migration and explores the emotional response to both, the change of habitat and changes in life cycle. Quite often the migrant idealizes the new habitat and the country of origin is devalued and sometimes there is a swing in the opposite direction.Although other psychoanalytical concepts describe the emotional reactions and enduring pathological problems, 'Migration' provide a wider and deeper understanding towards the capacity and possibilities of adaptation to a new situation.The chapters are structured according to the Life Cycle and in addition we have included chapters where the authors address socio-cultural issues.Freud and post Freudian theories are further developed of our understanding of the function of the mind. The reader will become aware of the importance of internal migration.The exploration of migration phenomenon enables a deeper and wider view of the emotional vicissitudes activated by significant moves or geographical changes or developmental changes. Migration highlights the sense of identity, psychic development and creativity.Psychoanalysis contributes to a deeper exploration of the mental functioning of migrants and internal migration and this has improved the therapeutic possibilities of helping individuals, couples families.

About the Author :
Eileen McGinley is a Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and works as a psychoanalyst in private practice in London. She was previously Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy at the Maudsley Hospital. She is an active member of the BPAS where she has been the Honorary Secretary of the Scientific Committee, Editor of the 'Bulletin' and member of the organising committee of the EPFF 2 and 3. She is currently a member of the Curriculum Committee. Arturo Varchevker is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society where he developed and chairs the Psychoanalytic Forum. He teaches in the UK and abroad and his main area of interest in psychoanalysis is internal migration and psychic change. He is a marital and family therapist with a special interest in domestic violence and the impact of migration.

Review :
'By encompassing both external and internal migration, Varchevker and McGinley have opened up an important space for exploration by many distinguished authors, all informed by psychoanalytic ideas but each with a particular and individual point of view. Varchevker and McGinley have chosen to include in their study not only the life-threatening situations and the concomitant unbearable states of mind often found in people seeking refuge in exile, but also pathological internal states which can lead to a failure to thrive - that is, a failure in the normal, expectable developmental migrations towards maturity. Thus, the chapters in this book make for very interesting reading: the reader will travel long distances as the focus of the studies moves from a baby's experience of exile in the presence of her gaze-avoiding mother, through the terror of in-between states in autistic children and in traumatised refugees; from the developmental personal crisis of facing death as the ultimate personal migration, to the horrors of genocide, and from inner catastrophe to working through trauma and hence to creativity.'- Ignes Sodre, Fellow and Training Analyst, The British Psychoanalytical Society'At present, it has been estimated that over 200 million people are considered to be migrants. The reasons for having left their homes are wide-ranging: escaping from war, persecution, discrimination and exploitation, at one extreme; seeking better living conditions and opportunities for work, at the other. Some migrants end up having to perform jobs that are dirty, dangerous and degrading. For others, migrating can become a positive and creative experience, contributing to the economic growth of the new country and enriching societies through cultural diversity. In all cases, the changes profoundly affect individuals, couples and families. Varchevker and McGinley have put together a collection of papers dealing, not only with external migration, but also with the consequences of internal migration. The individual's life cycle is here used as a valuable frame for the understanding of those changes and their sequels. From a broad psychoanalytical perspective, the different authors included in this book describe the multiple problems presented by migration in its complex contemporary dimension.'- Gregorio Kohon, Fellow and Training Analyst, The British Psychoanalytical Society