Migration grief: it's not just homesickness, and it's treatable

Migration grief is not weakness. It's a normal response to losing many things at once: family, climate, food, the corner store's language, the jokes nobody here gets.

The seven losses

Joseba Achotegui, a Catalan psychiatrist, identified seven griefs in migration:

• Family and loved ones
• Mother tongue
• Culture
• Land (landscapes, weather)
• Social status
• Contact with one's group
• Physical safety

What does NOT help

• "You chose to come, deal with it."
• "Just focus on the good things here."
• "It's been so long — why are you still sad?"

What does help

• Recognize it's grief, not a character flaw.
• Find therapists who understand the migration context (not just who speak Spanish).
• Keep rituals from your country of origin without guilt.
• Build new bonds without them replacing the old ones.

Therapy with a Hispanic psychologist changes the rhythm of the grief. It doesn't make it disappear, but it gives you tools to live with it without paralyzing you.