PTS | Rethinking Psychotherapy in diverse Migration Societies
How can psychotherapy respond to the challenges of increasingly diverse migration societies?
Migration has become an integral part of contemporary societies—and therefore also of psychotherapeutic practice. But what does this mean for psychotherapy as a discipline? Is it sufficient to apply existing therapeutic concepts to increasingly diverse populations, or do psychotherapy theory and practice themselves need to evolve?
These questions are explored by Birgitta Schiller (Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna) and Elisabeth Scheibelhofer (University of Vienna) in their new publication, Psychotherapy in diverse migration societies: Reflections from psychotherapy theory and sociological points of view, published in the Journal of Psychosocial Studies.
The article brings psychotherapy science and sociology into dialogue, demonstrating how sociological concepts such as migration, intersectionality, othering, and microaggressions can deepen our understanding of therapeutic relationships and psychotherapeutic processes.
Rather than treating migration as a specialised topic concerning only certain patient groups, the authors argue that social inequalities, power relations, and processes of belonging shape psychotherapy more fundamentally. This raises a broader question:
What can psychotherapy learn from sociology in order to respond more effectively to the challenges of increasingly diverse migration societies?
The publication advocates for integrating sociological perspectives into psychotherapy theory and research, arguing that interdisciplinary collaboration offers valuable opportunities for advancing psychotherapy education, research, and clinical practice in increasingly diverse societies.