Transcultural Clinical Work with Immigrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees at Avicenne Hospital, France

Abstract

This article presents and critically analyses an approach that is part of a specific context of health care ideologies and services in France the ethnopsychoanalytic consultations that are practised at the Avicenne Hospital. It is one of the few places where a specific approach for immigrant clients is offered in a university hospital. We give some background information both on the history of the hospital and on the ethnopsychiatric consultation. We then discuss some of the basic principles of the French ethnopsychoanalytic approach, and describe the work in a multicultural group setting. We also give some information about the indications for this kind of therapy, on the population served and on the way the transcultural consultation cooperates with other services. A short case presentation will illustrate the description of the French ethnopsychoanalytical approach and lead to a critical conclusion analysing the strengths and weaknesses of this model.