Loss and mourning in immigration: Using the assimilation model to assess continuing bonds with native culture

Abstract

This study examined the process of loss and mourning associated with immigration. Three broadcast interviews from Al-Jazeera network, an Arabic satellite channel, revealed different responses of Arab immigrants to losing their native culture. Theoretically, clinging to the lost culture may lead to isolation and ethnocentric withdrawal. A healthier response to loss is to mourn it. According to the Continuing Bonds model of mourning, immigrants incorporate elements of their native culture such as their families, friends, identity, language, values and traditions, into their new life structure. Instead of abandoning their emotional attachments to these cultural elements, immigrants may use them as resources that may help them adjust to their new countries and solve many problems they may face. The Assimilation Model, which has been used to assess psychotherapeutic progress, provides a language for describing a sequence through which elements of lost culture are assimilated into the immigrant's new life structure. This study revealed that a continuing bond with the lost culture is a part of the full assimilation and mourning of this culture.

Extending the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale: Commentary on the special issue

“…The study reported by Henry et al (2005), could not have detected irregular progression because it was cross-sectional in design, considering each person at one point in time and illustrating the APES progression by comparisons across cases. A longitudinal study of acculturation, however, might also show irregular progression in the mutual assimilation of the two cultures' voices.…”

“…However, in some studies, there are no independent ratings, and the APES is used as a way to be precise about the investigators' understanding. For example, in the Henry et al (2005) paper, there were no independent raters. Instead, readers were invited to consider the investigators' evaluation of interviewees' APES levels together with qualitative evidence, including verbatim excerpts of transcribed interviews.…”

“…Most obviously, Henry et al (2005) have extended the APES beyond psychotherapy to the study of acculturation. Most of the previous APES investigators have studied psychological problemsconceptualized as problematic internal voices-being assimilated into a larger dominant community of voices.…”

“…Other variations have not been given separate names (e.g., Glick, Salvi, Stiles, & Greenberg, in press;Honos-Webb, Stiles, Greenberg, & Goldman, 1998;Honos-Webb, Surko, Stiles, & Greenberg, 1999;Knobloch, Endres, Stiles, & Silberschatz, 2001;Laitila & Aaltonen, 1998;Stiles & Angus, 2001;Stiles et al, 1991Stiles et al, , 1992bStiles et al, , 1997Stiles, Osatuke, Glick, & Mackay, 2004;Williams, Stiles, & Shapiro, 1999). The studies in this special issue (Caro, 2005;Henry, Stiles & Biran, 2005;Humphreys, Rubin, Knudson, & Stiles, 2005; have not renamed the APES, but they have modified our understanding of it and extended its application in ways that deserve comment.…”

La asimilación de experiencias problemáticas a través de narraciones: un estudio de caso.

“…El modelo de asimilación es de tipo procesual y permite explorar y describir el cambio terapéuti-co, entendido éste como asimilación de experiencias problemáticas. El modelo desarrollado por el grupo de Stiles (Stiles et al, 1990(Stiles et al, , 1991 se ha aplicado a una amplia variedad de muestras y tipo de pacientes (Stiles, 2002), e incluso se ha utilizado para estudiar el proceso de aculturación mediante entrevistas (Henry, Stiles & Biran, 2005). Con el modelo se ha podido explicar el cambio terapéutico en diversos enfoques, como humanistas y experienciales (Honos-Webb, Surko, Stiles & Greenberg, 1999), psicodinámicos (Knobloch, Endres, Stiles & Silberschatz, 2001), cognitivos (Caro Gabalda, 2006a, b, 2007, y cognitivo-comportamentales (Goodridge & Hardy, 2009;.…”