ABSTRACT
Migration means leaving home and setting up a new home in a different place: the term usually indicates either a considerable geographical distance between the two places or some important differences between them, and commonly both. Migration may be permanent, cyclic or temporary; if temporary, the duration amounts to something more than a visit. Gastarbeiter migration is a result of industrialisation. If we are to get any further with the subject, we must stop asking over-simplified questions and using over inclusive generalisations and ill-defined categories. It might be useful to start by considering the category 'mental illness' and the category 'migration'. When the question of mental illness is raised not by the patient or his friends, but by social workers, doctors, police or magistrates, other factors operate particularly when these agents do not know the patient personally and are unfamiliar with his or her cultural norms.
