["I am estranged, just as I am." Migration experience, ego identity and neurosis]

Some specific psychic phenomena which can occur in overcoming the migration process are discussed with reference to case studies. The possibility of a derailed and chaotic communication is shown. The change of socio-cultural membership can destabilize the ego and ego-identity and lead to transculturally generated unconsciousness. Symptoms of angst, or neurotic symptoms can result if pre-formed unconscious conflicts represent too great a threat to the weakened ego. For the child's ego these burdens can pose threats to the psychological maturation. The therapeutic goal is to restore ego-stability and narcissictic stability, as well as the development of a new psycho-social identity. This is possible if the patient in psychoanalysis experiences a responsive opposite, so that the disrupted inter- connections between the life-history, the various social super-ego structures, norms and contradictions can be named and understood.