Psychology of migration and losses: Mourning process in families native from Democratic Republic of Congo

Migration constitutes a potentially traumatic event along with cultural losses and psychic reorganizations (Moro, 1994, 1998). The lost object is physically absent but psychologically present and this ambiguity precludes the mourning process (Boss, 1999). Indeed migration losses are unclear, incomplete and potentially retrievable (ex: return in the country, Falicov, 2003). The mourning process cannot be achieved because the object (country, family, cultural and social environments) is still existing (Aouattah, 2003). Nevertheless, exile does not have to be seen only as traumatizing but also as a potentially creative experience (Douville, 2001). Therefore, we also took into account benefits of the migration and individual resources.
We analyzed a sample of five families from the Democratic Republic of Congo – with open questions during two meetings – and we tested the following hypothesis: "the mourning process is the result of the dynamic interactions between losses, resources and benefits ".
We defined these dynamics through three steps: association and confusion; dissociation and identification; integration and achievement of the mourning process. We tested our hypothesis using Alceste – which is a statistical tool for discourse analysis – and the results confirmed it. We can state our conclusions as follows. At the first stage of the process, there exists confusion between losses, resources and benefits. At the second stage, the persons can differentiate and separate these three elements. And at the last step, people can achieve the mourning process, live with their losses and launch themselves into the future.