Migration, next generations and the future of psychiatry 2010

The world is changing rapidly. More then ever since WWII people are on the move, mainly driven by poverty or violence. In order to survive, migrants are challenged to participate in new environments and find their way in multiple social worlds. Not only geographical borders are crossed, but also virtual ones by surfing the internet and symbolic ones by culture contact and acculturation leading to changes in behavior and systems of meaning. Transnational identities are becoming part of this changing world. Combining different cultural repertoires results in new or creolizing cultures. Roots are redefined, sometimes leading to a nostalgic recreation of what is considered as lost traditions, occasionally with fundamentalistic characteristics.
An increasing number of children have parents with a history of migration. These next generations are confronted with new challenges: multiple identification, contradictory loyalties, intergenerational dynamics and conflicts, and threats of social exclusion in societies that are their country of birth and origin. The societal and political response to their problems and coping strategies can enhance their exclusion and contribute to mental problems, or result in new coping styles and resilience.
Cultural psychiatry and psychology are crossing borders too. Mental health care and psychosocial interventions are spreading around the world and exported to low-income countries and areas of conflict. The predominantly western classification system DSM is introduced all over the world along to ICD. Research into the efficacy of psychopharmaceuticals is transplanted to cheaper low income countries and results assumed to have universal applicability. This raises questions of cultural validity and bias, of the relationship between western-based psychiatry and indigenous health care systems, of cultural hegemony and ethics, and of changing biological and social paradigms.

In these changing societies mental health professionals are facing the limitations of traditional classification systems, concepts and therapeutic repertoires. They too are challenged to develop new conceptual approaches and treatment methods to enhance mental health and well-being, and to provide care to migrants and their offspring. In order to deal with the above mentioned societal changes and their influence on clients and communities we need to reflect on our clinical practices, our research agenda and maybe also on the position of mental health workers in the public debate.

This conference addresses issues deducted from this theme, and discusses them in relation with mental health care on the conference symposia and workshops