ABSTRACT
This chapter is a reflection on the identity struggles an international student experienced when becoming a psychotherapist in New York City, where many people are immigrants or migrants from various racial, cultural, or geographic backgrounds. The struggles of ethnic, professional, and cultural identities experienced by the Chinese therapist enabled a further understanding of the sufferings of her patients, especially the pressures of surviving and justifying oneself in the new cultural as well as social environment. Yet it also caused unique transference and countertransference in the therapy room, such as the fear of uncertainty from the therapist’s side, which directly affected the therapy and the therapeutic dyad. The development of an integrated new identity from the therapist’s side also had positive effects on the therapeutic work. Extended clinical examples are used to further illustrate these points.
