Grief in the context of migration is multi-layered. Beyond the stresses of the initial culture shock and waves of homesickness, or the difficulties posed by language barriers, many migrants and refugees experience a string of tangible and intangible losses that can deeply erode their wellbeing and relationships.
Dr Grant Blashki, Clinical Lead at Beyond Blue, says migratory grief can manifest in countless ways.
“It can be psychological, sort of sense of sadness, or shock, or angry, or guilty. It can be physical, elements of poor sleep, tiredness, feeling run down. A lot of people who are grieving find they have sort of secondary fallouts sometimes. You know, whether conflict at home, or conflict at work, or sometimes using alcohol.”
Migratory grief is often compounded by ‘ambiguous loss’: a type of loss that is unclear and undefined. The nature of ambiguous loss means emotional closure becomes elusive.
“When someone grieves, and they've had some sort of loss, most commonly the loss is very identifiable. You lost a loved one or pet, or you lost a job, or you lost your house, and it's very identifiable, and you’re sad and you're angry and you're upset, but it's got a sense of closure about it. Whereas ambiguous loss is when there's some degree of lack of clarity about the loss, so it's very hard to manage that grief and come to terms with things.”
Dr Blashki explains migrants often experience multiple losses at once. This may be felt more acutely shortly after arrival – a time of great adjustments.
