THE RUINS OF ITHACA Psychological and Social Challenges of Reintegration in Returned Migrants

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Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-09-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22834213
Primary Topic
Migration, Health and Trauma
Type
preprint
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preprint

THE RUINS OF ITHACA Psychological and Social Challenges of Reintegration in Returned Migrants

Jesus Miguel Martínez Álvarez
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Migration, Health and Trauma
preprint

THE RUINS OF ITHACA Psychological and Social Challenges of Reintegration in Returned Migrants

Jesus Miguel Martínez Álvarez
preprint en

Abstract

Return migration has been historically relegated in psychiatric literature, despite its growing clinical and demographic relevance. This article addresses return not as an epilogue of the migratory cycle, but as a critical phase of high psychopathological complexity, where the "myth of return" — a defensive construction that sustains identity during exile — collapses when confronted with a reality that does not recognize the one who returns. The heterogeneity of return (voluntary, forced, voluntary-coerced) and its differential impact on mental health are reviewed, documenting significantly higher rates of depression and PTSD in those who return under structural pressure. Neuroscientific findings are integrated — hippocampal atrophy (6.9% left, 6.6% right), amygdala hyperreactivity, frontolimbic decoupling, and alterations in the temporoparietal junction — which explain emotional dysregulation, fear generalization, and identity fragmentation observed in returned populations. From the framework of computational psychiatry, the clash between idealized expectations (Bayesian priors) and post-return reality is conceptualized as an extreme prediction error that leads to adaptive paralysis and dissociative phenomena. In response, an integrated, phased intervention plan (emergency, elaboration, consolidation) is presented, articulating four models — Gestalt therapy, the strategic approach of Palo Alto, constructivist and narrative psychotherapy — with the aim of restoring cognitive flexibility, updating the subject's predictions, and facilitating an identity that integrates displacement as an asset, not as an irreversible fracture. It is concluded that the sustainability of return and the mental stability of returnees require programs with structured and sustained psychosocial components, not mere economic incentives. As long as global policies continue to force returns without mental health infrastructures, migration psychiatry will face an epidemic of complex trauma and failed returns. This work aspires to place return migration at the center of clinical and health policy debate. This article draws on the author's clinical experience with migrant populations over three decades.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Instituto Superior de Gestão (PT)
Migration, Health and Trauma
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