The Ulysses Syndrom: A Psychological Approach to Basque Migrations

What is the experience of the migrant? Psychiatrist Joseba Atxotegi argues that for every story of success in a new homeland, there are untold pressures and stressors on individual migrants, the effect of which are often perceived as mental illness. In Ulysses Syndrome, Atxotegi offers “a complete vision of Basque migrations [including] psychological and psychosocial perspective[s]." Using the lens of Homer’s Odyssey, Atxotegi describes the plight of migrants as one plagued with uncertainty and fear, where they might “find themselves seated on the banks of a river that is not theirs [...] and looking vainly out toward the ocean that has brought them to this land.” Rather than pathologize this experience as a form of mental illness, the study instead recontextualizes the anguish felt by migrants as “Ulysses Syndrome” ― an internalized state brought on by combined external factors including cultural incongruity, state repression, or involuntary exile. In its nuanced depiction of a this particular form of alienation, Ulysses Syndrome offers new modes of recuperation and restitution for those struggling with migration's legacies.