Group Psychotherapy with Immigrants from Turkey

Group psychotherapy with immigrants from Turkey began in Switzerland at the University Psychiatric Outpatient Department, Basel, 1991. At this time two groups were formed for depressed Turkish patients with psychosomatic symptoms: a women's group in November 1991, and a men's group in January 1992. The need for psychotherapeutic care stemmed from the large number of immigrants in this city who came from Turkey beginning in the late 1960s but particularly in the late 1970s. The authors describe the psychodynamics and psychopathological aspects of the members during the group process, and the impact of the phenomenon of migration on them and on the stages of group psychotherapy.