Transitional space in the treatment of immigrants

This paper illustrates how the dimension of space is an apt arena for immigrant patients to play out their separation problems. A continuum is proposed in which the extreme ends represent pathological attitudes toward space. Two cases are presented to demonstrate how these differential approaches to space result in unique ways of dealing with separation and immigration. Treatment of immigrants involves the transformation of the therapeutic milieu into a transitional space to form a bridge between the patient's native country and current home and a potential space to allow patients to create new ways to view themselves and their worlds.