On psychopathology of exile. An essay.

Abstract

A historical sketch of the problems of exile has been presented. A few case histories of immigrants have been reviewed. Hypotheses have been offered how to understand difficulties of exiles starting with nostalgia and extracting 'objective' problems; new language environment, social decline with a complicated path of habilitation in the new place, and the importance of time, both in terms of settling and achieving, as well as the time as an irretrievable loss, and finally xenophobia. However, the more severe the psychiatric disorder, the less important is the fact of the exodus in the etiology of it. The obstacles to psychiatric treatment have been mentioned.