PC-RIM: A Clinical Protocol for Identity Reintegration in Migration

Some patients arrive at consultation with a diagnosis of depression that does not quite fit. The sadness is not for what they lost, but for what they left behind. The guilt is not for what they did, but for having left. And the insomnia is not about everyday worries, but about a question they never quite formulate: who am I now? This article presents an intervention protocol designed for that kind of patient. The Clinical Protocol for Identity Reintegration in Migration (PC-RIM, by its Spanish acronym) rests on a simple premise: the migrant's suffering does not stem from their cultural multiplicity, but from the impossibility of integrating it into a coherent narrative. Its goal is not to cure the migrant of their multiplicity, but to help them inhabit it without being destroyed by it. The protocol is structured into two technical modules — one narrative, one somatic — and organised into a nine-month sequence that respects the rhythms of migratory grief. It draws on the author's clinical experience with migrant populations of diverse origins over two decades, and forms part of a broader research line on identity fracture in contexts of displacement (Martínez, 2026a, 2026b, 2026c). This article draws on the author's clinical experience with migrant populations over two decades.