ABSTRACT
Migration is a normal, anthropological phenomenon which has increased in recent years. However, migration means being uprooted and losing one's home. The internal and external adaptation that is necessary to deal with this is often overlooked. Psychoanalysis needs to take a stance against today's social norm which seems to take mobility and globalisation for granted. The analyst needs to keep a close eye on social and cultural differences and find ways of dealing with the strangeness, the distance and the lack of knowledge involved in such differences.
This chapter describes the treatment of two patients who had suffered traumatic relationship experiences. Long-term abuse in relationships leads to negative internalisations and identifications. Such trauma can in my opinion only be worked through within the therapeutic relationship. The therapeutic stance that is needed is what is termed the intersubjective movement which according to Ermann (2004) is characterised by the paradigms of relating and relationship.
