How does immigration affect the mental health of children whose parents have moved to another country? A desire to offer their children better lives is often a main motivating factor for many immigrant parents. Children can come to symbolize parents’ wishes for this promising future, a bit like stars in the night sky shining out of the darkness. Yet sometimes, parents bring with them remnants of their past that linger within a family as secrets and untold stories, such as of traumatic events before or during their migration. Intergenerational transmission of traumatic incidents can be a characteristic of immigrant children’s experiences when parents have fled their home countries because of persecution and discrimination. A case example of a nine-year-old girl will highlight some of the complex dynamics of unconscious repetitions that can overwhelm a developing psyche with fears and fragmentation. Attendees will be encouraged to engage in discussion about their perspectives on the psychological effects of immigration.
Learning objectives:
- Describe the main psychological factors of intergenerational trauma;
- Explain with two examples how narrative gaps in immigrants stories might happen;
- Cite two ways for how a myth or story like the Aeneid relates to immigration.