Children and adolescents in the pandemic. If it is difficult for adults to understand everything that is happening, adapt, change our schedules, stay at home. Imagine what it is for a child or a teenager. They are growing, they are still developing the emotional and psychological tools to understand and elaborate on matters of reality. In this case, a reality that can be traumatic. On one hand, they listen and see what happens in their surroundings, what happens to the mother, what happens to the father, the news on TV. On the other hand, there is the fact that they don’t go to school. They have to adapt to studying with a computer (many do not have this possibility) they do not see their friends, they are alone at home with a mother and a father distressed in most cases. Without school, without understanding very well what is happening and trying to get good grades and get what is explained to them in online classes.

It is really important right now that both moms and dads can be there for their children. We are experiencing challenging times, part of those challenges is being able to emotionally help children and adolescents. In this situation, the challenge is even greater for the parents of children in special education. These kids usually need more guidelines, more help understanding school topics, and more patience and dedication. It is very difficult for these parents to help their children and at the same time fulfill their job’s obligations. For many children in special education, paying attention to the screen for a long time is frustrating and therefore very difficult for teachers and parents to achieve educational goals with virtual education.

We need to keep in mind that we are living an extraordinary moment and that each father, mother, each child, each family, will do what they can within their possibilities and their particular circumstances. We have to let go higher expectations and work with what we have. Many children find informal ways to learn. They find a topic they like and research it. They look for information, they watch documentaries, others are interested in art or technology. Given the circumstances we are experiencing, the most important thing is to continue motivating children to learn, to open the door to curiosity because ultimately what it is about, especially in a pandemic, is not about the grades they get, but the resources they can develop, the skills they can learn and the emotions they can elaborate from supporting themselves from these activities that indirectly project them into the future.

So the role of parents in times of crisis is to be able to emotionally support their children, as well as motivate them to learn. And I said learn not to study. For many children studying, being able to focus on school matters is complicated by the anguish and uncertainty that is experienced at the social and family level. Some ways to help children in this pandemic is mainly to make contact, to have communication, to be able to talk about what is happening. I suggest to do projects together, asking them for help at home in matters of preparing a special recipe or fathers might ask some help with work from the office or the workshop. Involving children to participate in certain professional life matters from parents, promotes closeness with them. Also, it is essential that children have a routine to follow, that parents structure the day in a productive way for the child to avoid the excess of the drives. Children need predictability and organization to learn, pay attention, and stay motivated. If children do not sleep well or spend a lot of time playing on the computer, they will not have the attention or motivation to do their homework or attend virtual classes. This is also essential with adolescents, who will have to be allowed to organize their times. With the older ones, parents should know when to step in, help, or set limits.

It is important in the case of adolescents to allow them contact their friends and now that New York City is reopening; meeting their friends in open spaces is a possibility, obviously explaining to them the need of maintaining social distancing and certain hygiene matters. With teens, communication is also a must. Listening to the questions they may have regarding the situation we are experiencing, as well as their fears and frustrations. Adolescents, in general, have a life less dependent on parents, more in contact with the outside of the family, therefore, it is necessary to help them to somehow continue the relationship with the outside. This increasing contact with the outside is essential to create a healthy separation from parents which is extremely necessary for the development of any human being.

I hope this episode was helpful to you. Thanks for listening. Let’s talk more in two weeks.

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Mental health in quarantine, anxiety and depression.

I hope everybody is doing well. Last week I was talking to you about mental health during quarantine. I told you about certain excesses and how important it is to find ways to limit the drive and ask for professional help when you just can’t reach this goal by your own. Today I’m going to talk to you about other mental health symptoms that have exacerbated during quarantine.

I will discuss anxiety and depression. 
 It is a fact that during the quarantine, our daily life changed, the structure of our reality fell apart. As subjects of speech, we build and organize our reality. This calm us down, give us emotional stability and also allow us to plan short and long term goals. We love being able to check the weather forecast and know how the weather will be in the next 10 days. We also have calendars and schedules to organize our social and work activities. Therefore, the dismemberment of reality and not knowing how things will be for us and the society in general, when we will return to what we call normal have left us without support and produced emotional and psychological effects.
This uncertainty has caused great anguish, great anxiety in people, especially in those who have a great need for controlling what is happening around them or knowing exactly what is going to happen. There are people who need to have extreme control of their reality and when this does not happen, anguish gets exacerbated and turns into anxiety.
Let’s agree that in life one never has full control neither the certainty of what’s going to happen, but the whole coronavirus situation created unprecedented issues and challenges to the whole world. Even many mental health professionals are speaking of a generalized post -traumatic stress disorder in society caused not only by the uncertainty of the situation but also for its duration, the drastic changes produced in reality and in the interaction with others. Obviously we are realizing that there will be a before and after covid-19 for all of us.

In the cases of depression, the impact of all the situations unleashed by the pandemic on the emotional, social and economic areas must be considered. There are people who have been completely isolated for months, others have lost their jobs, many have lost family members or friends. These are all factors that might lead to depression, and of course there will be those who have more resources than others to deal with these situations. I am referring not only to financial resources but the subjective position in life of each one of them and what they have to rely themselves on. Emotional and psychological resources are extremely important to deal with loss and mourning. 
 It is essential to set up short term and long term plans. Planning is a way of supporting yourself in a reality that is dismembered, a way of project yourself into the future. Of course, some will have to have several plans in the face of uncertainty, or more short term plans. The important thing is to find a way to project yourself in time, which will allow you to create an imaginary support and get out of stagnations.

We must differentiate when a symptom is manageable and when it ends up transforming into what commands a person. These are the situations in which functioning is lost. When someone spends all day in bed, when they do not bathe, when they are not engaged in their work or when they do not take care of their children, these are indications that things have reached a point where professional help is imperative. 
Those who are experiencing extreme depression or who have family members or friends experiencing profound depressions need to consult with a therapist. If the depression is severe, the help of a psychiatrist is often required to assess the need of psychotropic medications. When a person is no longer functioning, they must first step out of the vicious cycle that does not allow them to do the basic things in life, otherwise depression becomes even harder to manage. Medication might help a lot in these situations. However, we will have to evaluate what are the best options for each individual in particular. 
Well, I hope you have an excellent week and that today’s talk has helped you somehow.

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 appeared first on Gabriela Giuggioloni.

Mental Health in Quarantine: “The excesses”

Hello, how are you? Today, I wanted to talk to you about Mental Health during this time of quarantine. Psychotherapists are observing that people, beyond being our patients or not are presenting mental health symptoms. People are more distressed, more anxious and more depressed in many cases. The situations that concern us the most are those in which people are trapped at home with an abuser or with their own addictions.

We know that there are women, children or even men trapped in a house without the possibility that a third party can intervene to help Let’s take school for example. School is not just the place where children go to learn, school is a third party that observes, it can intervene when is needed, especially in child abuse cases, whether it is emotional, physical or sexual abuse.
Therefore, for many children being at home locked up with a family member who abuses them is traumatic. The same for women or men who are going through situations of violence. Other concerning cases are those of people who are also trapped at home but with their issues to regulate their drives, their own excesses, with the impossibility of managing the drive and setting a limit.

I am talking about the cases in which people do drugs or abuse alcohol and cannot set boundaries. In these situations, there is a risk of death and we are really worried about the fact that they are totally isolated from others.

We also know that many people spend too much time on the phone or other devices. When something becomes a constant that cannot be stopped and does not let us do other things, it might become an addiction. Children and Adolescents are not going to school right now and They might be spending many hours on the phone or playing electronic games on the computer. So, parents or those in charge will have to set limits and be able to say no when is needed. It is essential to shorten the time spent on these devices to make possible a move, to allow that something else, a different interest appears.

When playing on the computer or being on the phone becomes a constant, even at night and children do not sleep properly, is very hard for a child to be interested in school or to do homework. Therefore, it is important to set up some boundaries. it is the responsibility of the parents to be able to organize, to structure children’s times and spaces, especially during this quarantine.

Also, we listen that many find very difficult to stop eating. There are many jokes in social media talking about how obese we will become by the end of the quarantine. The reality is that many, having no other things to do, find an enjoyment in food. This becomes a problem when it is not possible to stop eating.

In this need to stop, we can be creative, there are people who try to have a routine, others are studying online, others look for communicating with friends or family members through virtual calls. All these activities are ways of dealing with the drives, and also ways of making some cuts, ways of creating different spaces, different moments. We no longer have the “back and forth.” We used to go to work, meet a friend for a coffee or go to the movies… all these possibilities helped us to regulate our drives by setting different scenarios, places and times… now we have to create these new cuts from home.

The task of stopping, limiting the drive will be impossible for some, difficult or easier for some others. it is essential to identify whether one can stop alone or not. Many people refuse to stop, refuse to confront their problems. However, it is a fact that being able to recognize that there is a problem and look for help are the first steps for a change, are the first steps to reach a better place in life. That’s why today I wanted to convey to you the importance of seeking help during this quarantine. There are therapists working online right now. Health insurances are even covering copayments. Some therapists are running groups. Many are offering sliding scale fees. There are also organizations providing services in the area of ​​Mental Health.

I hope that this episode has been useful to you. That has helped you to identify some excesses, if there is any and what can be done about it. And also how important is to ask for help if you realize that you cannot handle difficulties by yourself. Sometimes, we have doubts and we might not be sure whether we need help or not, whether we can handle a problem by ourselves, even whether there is a problem. Psychotherapists assist in these situations too. Well, I hope you have a good week and talk to you soon.

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The importance of Meaning.

Hi, how are you doing today? Welcome to my podcast. I would like to talk today about the title of an article that I saw some weeks ago. The name of the article was, In lockdown, look for meaning not happiness. And when I read that, I felt like somebody was putting my feelings into words.

It is hard to be happy or content with the current circumstances that we are going through. Many people are sick with COVID-19, others have lost family members or friends. Some other people are going through really hard financial situations because of the pandemic, and some way or another this situation touches all of us, but I also wonder … I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it, but what is happiness?

A more accurate question would be, what is that makes me happy because not necessarily what makes happy one person will make happy somebody else. 
The concept of happiness is different for everyone.

We are looking for immediate satisfaction. We buy stuff online. We look for relationships or dates in online dating sites. Nowadays you can acquire whatever you want through the internet. It is easy to fill the void with stuff that you can buy. However, facing, confronting, questions and answers in relation to the meaning, to the meaning of our relationship, the meaning of our job, the meaning of our contributions to society.

Those questions are really hard to face sometimes, because they require to find an answer. Unfortunately, we have the tendency to avoid the question and also to avoid any answer. It makes us feel very anxious or the anguish appears when we confront questions that have to be with our existence. However, those questions and the possibility of answering them are the ones who allow us to go forward in life, to achieve new goals, to have access to relationships and not to be a stuck, not to be a stuck always in the same place.

And we are in pause right now. For many, the pause is chaos. They don’t know what to do with the pause. But for many others, the pause is an opportunity. An opportunity to think or resting to make new priorities, to revalue relationships, to revisit places and make new choices. The pause is a new chance for all of us. The pause is even a new chance for all of us as a society. Well, thank you very much for listening, and I hope that this reflection was helpful for many of you. Thank you. And talk to you soon.

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New Yorkers are used to the rush. The city that never sleeps does not know how to stop. Some love how challenging it is to live and work in New York: “If you make it here you can make it anywhere” according to the famous Frank Sinatra song. But what happens when New Yorkers have to stop? What happens in quarantine when one has to stay home alone or with family? What happens when work is secondary? If it becomes secondary, some people cannot stop because the break is non-tolerable mentally. What happens when productivity declines? Of course, these questions may apply to anyone in any place but New York City is “The Big Apple.” A city characterized by its many opportunities and richness. New York’s nickname originated many years ago, during the 1920s with the big prizes (or “big apples”) rewarded at the racing-tracks in the area.

For many, productivity and overachievement represent who they are. For others, working and work related responsibilities allow them to avoid certain personal or family issues. Being a workaholic is a socially acceptable way of denying, filling or dodging certain lacks, flaws and insecurities.

Staying at home with the family might be a challenge for many right now. Spending time with the kids who do not have school and want to be with mom or dad might be a huge stress for some. Being with the children at home, confront many with their lack of patience, short temper or deficiencies at performing the parenting role. Also, the spouse is at home, he or she might ask for some time together or look for attention; or he/she (or both) might be avoiding that conversation or issue that has never been discussed because they are not able to find “the right time.”

For those who are at home alone, it is not easy either, they might be confronting their loneliness or trying a hundred things in order not to confront it. Without knowing it, some people have free time and the break makes them think about what they have not done in a while or never done before. Many are questioning their life choices, always coming back to the same excuses, and many others might be trying to look for a change without knowing where to start or what to do.

This break will create chaos for many and not just financially. We are used to going through life without thinking or questioning much, “It is what it is”, “everything happens for a reason, “the show must go on.” It is always easy to place the responsibility for our choices or lack of them on destiny, other people or simply dodge them.

The break, this new reality, this re-organization in our lives might interrupt our priorities, needs and wants. It might also show our poor capacity to enjoy the small things. In times where doing yoga, taking macramé classes or watching Netflix could be the only thing to do during the day, many do not enjoy them or feel they are a waste of time.

Worthiness is in direct proportion to productivity, money and work in our society. The problem is, we are paying a price for not being able to perform in other areas. We are losing touch with human feelings and emotions, even our own. We are losing the ability to connect with the closest people around us. We are losing awareness of what we want and what is important. Being a New Yorker comes with a high price tag for some.

However, for many others, being at home is also a time of re-encounters. A re-encounter with a wife, a hobby, a friend, a lover, a musical instrument. A re-encounter with desire, a re-encounter with a personal lack also, but this lack is taken or seen from a different perspective. From this view, the lack is accepted, confronted with full responsibility making possible a change and a new creation.

Questioning oneself and ones surroundings is a rebellious act in a society where psychotropic medication, positive attitude, positive thinking and behavior modification are the answers to human existence. The Coronavirus pandemic is not only challenging our “power of adaptation and change”, it is also a social and human challenge at this point. This is more than a virus outbreak, it is a social outbreak. Whatever theory you might have about the origin and spread of Coronavirus, as well as the inefficiencies of governments to deal with this pandemic, it highlights the vulnerability of the human being and the lack of infrastructure to deal with public health disasters such as a pandemic. The ironies, unfairness and cruelty of the system are manifesting themselves for both the rich and the poor, when healthcare professionals have to work without having essential protection, lack of equipment and making heartbreaking decisions, while an expensive and very harmful 5G technology is supported widely. What are our priorities right now? Well, we are shaping our present and future, a time of introspection and analysis is needed for all of us. The death drive needs to be regulated.

Everything will change during and after Covid-19, we do not know how but it is a must to pay attention, be aware of what is going on with ourselves, our society and governmental decisions, because we have a responsibility to ourselves and future generations whether we like it or not.

Gabriela R. Giuggioloni MA, LCSW-R

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What is couple therapy?

Are you considering couple therapy but not sure what it’s about? Whether it will help? If it’s worth your time and money? You are at the right place. We all know that romantic relationships require a lot of effort. They are like any appliance in our house that requires proper care and servicing by a technician occasionally for them to function optimally. The couple therapist is the technician that helps your relationship function better.

Couples therapy is a type of psychotherapy that helps couples recognize and resolve conflicts thereby gaining an insight into their relationship. Couples therapy is not just for married people, it can help couples in all types of intimate relationships — regardless of sexual orientation or marriage status. The therapist helps people involved in a romantic relationship to make thoughtful decisions about rebuilding and strengthening their relationship or going their separate ways.

How does couples therapy help? What do you do in couple therapy?

Couples therapy starts with an interview of the couple by the therapist. He/she asks some standard questions regarding the relationship history while simultaneously exploring the client’s family-of-origin, values and cultural background. Usually both partners take couples therapy, however, sometimes one or both partners choose to work with the therapist alone in individual sessions.

After the initial interview the therapist assists the couple in identifying the issue that will be the focus of treatment and how this will be worked along the sessions.

During the treatment, the therapist helps the couple gain insight into the problem, while helping both partners understand each of their roles in what is causing the issue. This helps them change the way they perceive each other and their relationship.

The most crucial aspect of therapy is changing behaviours and ways of interacting with each other. Most couples gain awareness into their relationship, they learn better ways of emotional expression and develop the skills required to communicate in an effective manner and learn essential problem-solving skills to be implemented in their daily lives. Thus, leading to better relationship dynamics and mental well-being.

When is the right time to seek couple therapy?

The right time to seek therapy is long before couples think they “need” to. Most of the times, couple’s issues are initially very small, however they grow over a period of time into relationship threatening issues as couples don’t seek help. This is where therapy can help, by providing the necessary tools and techniques to improve conflict resolution and communication skills.

Therapy can help partners to improve mutual understanding and is considered an effective tool in managing a relationship and leading to better emotional health. Couples should take preventive measures to maintain the health of the relationship, thereby strengthening the bond which might be tested over the course of time.

How long should you go for couple therapy?

Couples therapy is often short term; however, there’s no one-size-fits-all in answer to this question. It usually depends on the couple and the issues they’re working through. Some couples may require only a few sessions to mend their relationship, while others may remain in therapy much longer.

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Corona Virus and Uncertainty: “When Toilet Paper talks about us”

The whole world is being shaken up nowadays. Corona virus has turned upside down the human existence in a short period of time.  COVID- 19 represents all of the human fears; the fear of the unknown, the fear of dying, the fear of losing life as it is known, the fear of losing familiarity with relationships, money, comfort.  Humans are beings of customs and habits, very predictable creatures, most of the time. Predictability is loved, the coffee every morning and even the complaints for the same things over and over again. The speaking being does not cope well with the unknown. Many do not have even the skills to deal with the unknown. However, it is a fact that sooner or later a time of unexpected illness, family crisis or job layoff or …Corona virus happens.

In times of social struggle, one hopes that governments and neighbors would do the right thing.  However, our flaws as a society, a country and as simple humans show us a scene of many flamboyant colors. Mistakes are made, confusion is all around.  Some are in a state of panic, others try to take advantage of the situation, some wash their hands every 5 minutes. However, it is also truth that there are others who with courage work non-stop in hospitals, emergency rooms and clinics to save lives, others check on the sick neighbor, others share their purchases.

We learned math and science, we learned good table manners, we learned to say sorry if we step on somebody’s foot, but dealing with uncertainty is not something that we learned at school.  Being able to deal with the unknown requires the capacity to deal with castration; in Lacanian terms, with the castration of the Other. The lack of, is always present for the neurotic, the difference is rooted in the position that every subject assumes towards it.  This miniscule virus might be seen for many as a giant monster due to everything that is unknown about it and its newness to speaking beings and science. This lack of knowledge feeds all kind of anxieties, fears and stresses.

For some, buying all the toilet paper from the supermarket shelves will prevent them from suffering, will prevent them from dying, will prevent them from dealing with castration. Lacan speaks about the two deaths, the biological death and the death introduced by the signifier, by language.  These two deaths require us to deal with a loss, with the unknown, with a reality that never inscribes itself in the signifier chain.

The reality of Corona virus shows with cruelty that not everything can be controlled. And even though human beings feel masters of the universe most of the time, this virus is reflecting the human vulnerability and its limitations.  Perhaps in times like this, support and anchorage needs to be found in what is known and familiar: jobs, relationships, community, friends, activities. Perhaps, this is a time to embrace social participation and community work. Perhaps, it is a time to change perspectives, values and ideals.

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 Nest syndrome.

Married couples and living together couples face several problems, such as relationship conflicts that occur once children have left home. This farewell is very painful for parents; but it also creates the possibility of uncovering unfinished business or unresolved issues between the parents.

It is important that the couples know how to cultivate moments to share together. Source: Joydip Dutt / CC BY-SA

Couples therapy proves to be the key to address relationship problems associated with familiar crisis, for example, when adult children leave the familiar home. We note that the “empty nest syndrome” is a relatively popular term, it is the outcome when children become independent from their parents’ home, this leads to the parents feeling sadness and loneliness. But the fact of the offspring leaving home, goes beyond disrupting parent’s roles. This departure can expose a number of relationship issues, which many times before the couple preferred to avoid, or they weren’t aware of the issue or struggle.

The avoidance of relationship problems

When parents see themselves alone at home, when children are no longer a “distraction” to their reality as a couple, they might become a couple again or realize that something is not working.

Couples might confront issues that appear after the departure of their adult children, usually, they have been dragging them along for several years, even some beginning as unresolved premarital problems and have been latent during the family life. Many times if the couple’s members have started to note some issues and chose to overlook the situation as well as avoiding consulting a couple therapist or family counselor, the relationship has suffered, creating couples’ conflicts and other kinds of family issues.

It´s necessary to consider that when a couple has their first child, they are no longer just a couple, they become parents, a family.

Becoming parents brings all kind of changes and the appearance of new challenging roles.   Many things are established for the sake of their kids, everything in their daily lives revolves around them. Parenthood might become an absorbent task. The relationship members could lose their own identity as Individuals. At the same time the couple might suffer after giving all their attention and effort to the family’s wellbeing. They become careless with their own couple spaces, they don’t take enough time for themselves to enjoy and grow the relationship. In some cases, kids are “used”, consciously or unconsciously, to escape from some conflicts between the parents, arguing things like: “there´s no time for that” “I do not want to hurt my kids with that.”

Because facing all these problematics is overwhelming and anxiety provoking, couples tend to avoid family counseling, and other therapeutic options, that can help with their issues. Therefore, it is not surprising that at some point, couple’s problems appear as a huge unstoppable rolling snowball of personal, relationship and unresolved family issues.

Couples therapy as a priceless option

There are many resources for couples, some of them have a preventive aspect, oriented to new relationships just like premarital counseling. This kind of therapy helps the couple to understand their dynamics and solve conscious or unconscious issues revealed by the couple or either of the couple’s members. Individual therapy is part of the treatment, many times as a fundamental tool to work on personal issues that are affecting the relationship greatly.

Some of the topics in couple therapy will focus specifically on a group of objectives. Such as the following ones:

• Helps people in order to make them aware of their problem and how this affects their couple’s dynamic.
• Establishing and improving dialogue with each other for good communication is the key to developing a better relationship dynamic.
• Define the objectives that partners wish to achieve individually and as a couple.
• Design strategies to solve these relationship problems.
• Facilitate the process of “re-discovering” themselves as a couple.
• Support the creation of spaces and activities which are exclusive to the couple.

In conclusion: a farewell is a couple’s new beginning

While it is true that saying goodbye to kids is painful, it is necessary to remember that this event represents an excellent opportunity to begin something new and take care of all the needs that have been ignored or postponed until now; unfinished business can cut off the full development of a person and a relationship with a life partner.

With regards to couples counseling, it is an invaluable resource in cases of empty nest syndrome and helps couples to accept problems and work them out, to enjoy and re-discover a romantic relationship or decide on a separation if they do not have the desire to continue together or work on their problems.

Gabriela R. Giuggioloni MA, LCSW-R

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Some victims of domestic abuse can be helped with a precise immigration evaluation, so they can have a better chance of acquiring immigration status and gain more independence.

Domestic abuse is an old social issue. Source: Francisco Goya / Public domain

Immigration evaluation is a tool used to facilitate certain immigration processes, for example, to obtain the VAWA petition, which aims to protect some victims of violence domestic. This kind of evaluation is meant to assess the psychological and emotional damage caused by specific circumstances of domestic violence. An appropriate immigration evaluation can be very useful to approve these petitions. This report should be done by a mental health professional and the client needs to complement it with individual psychotherapy.

Concerning domestic violence, the United States gives the chance of permanent residency to some victims, who must meet some requirements. Like previously mentioned, it is necessary to show that psychological trauma or another disorder was caused by domestic abuse through an immigration evaluation among other things.

Domestic violence is a severe problem

Home should be a sacred place where you find protection and pace, for many people the word home evokes a sense of security, but in reality, this place is not free of aggressive actions, indeed, this kind of violence is present around the world along human history.

Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, is one of the problems that have a heavy toll on modern society, many individuals, mostly women and children die from domestic violence. In some countries, this phenomenon is a terrible scourge. For this reason, there are endless programs, laws, among other measures designed to combat domestic violence.

It is vital to clarify that domestic abuse is not just a matter of physical damage. Violence does not need to be a tangible act like a beating. Verbal violence is also considered abuse. This kind of violence seeks to destroy the confidence and worth of the victim. Anyway, both kind of abuse, physical or verbal leave emotional and psychological marks such as:

• Frequent nightmares.
• Posttraumatic stress disorder and other problems.
• Panic attacks.
• Low self-esteem.
• Guilt feelings and shame.

Additionally, children might acquire learning problems, trouble concentrating and other signs that could affect negatively their academic performance and social achievement Also, children might identify themselves with the role of the aggressor or the victim causing them psychological or behavioral problems.

Immigration evaluation and VAWA petition

Mental health professionals with experience in immigration issues who perform immigration evaluations for VAWA petitions, use clinical interviews among other clinical instruments to find signs of abuse that have been affecting the client’s mental state.

This particular report describes a comprehensive mental health status as well as symptoms, diagnosis and prognosis of the victim. This information is crucial for an immigration case and most immigration lawyers know how important immigration evaluations are in this kind of immigration petitions.

VAWA helps men, women and children who are victims of domestic abuse equally, despite the name VAWA which is the acronym of the Violence Against Women Act. Therefore, this petition recognizes that men can be domestic violence victims as well and need to be helped too.

Spouses and children who apply for this petition do not have a proper immigration status and are either married to a U.S. citizen or resident who is their abuser or have a filial relationship with the abuser. Also parents can apply if they have been abused by a U.S. citizen son or daughter. Through a self-petitioning process, the battered spouse, parent or child may apply for immigration status without the knowledge or involvement of the abuser. This self-petition considers that domestic abuse is not only between spouses. VAWA covers all physical and emotional abuse issues in the domestic sphere.

VAWA aims to get the legalization of certain people who could not solve their legal situation because their abuser, in a way or another, interfered with their immigration process to have control over them.

There is more information about the visa VAWA on the official page of USCIS: www.uscis.gov (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)

Conclusion

In the United States, there are many individuals who do not have legal status, some of them are victims of domestic violence, their immigration status makes them more vulnerable to abuse.  VAWA becomes the hope of a better life, where victims of domestic abuse can have access to permanent residency in the U.S. as well as availability to resources to improve their physical and mental health.

An immigration evaluation is one of these valuable resources. This report is not only an assessment but also the beginning of a healing process for many victims.

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Many people migrate to other countries due to horrific, sometimes even traumatizing situations such as war, poverty, lack of natural resources and violence among many others life threatening situations.

However, the experience of immigration by itself can be traumatizing too. Many people have left their children and parents behind causing them severe feelings of guilt. Some others do not have the chance to say good bye when loved ones pass away making the process of grieving very complicated. Some migrate where they can -not where they would prefer- being in conflict many times with their religion, way of life or beliefs. Some never adjust to the new environment and culture. Some never learn the language of the new country being their children the ones who represent them and carry on with their struggles.

Also many people look for better opportunities overseas due to the lack of resources in their countries or because they foresee catastrophic events due to corruption or governmental chaos. Therefore, it is not the same to leave a place by choice, by desire than leaving because it is a matter of survival. When I say a matter of survival, I also imply the mental survival.

When working with immigrants, it is important to consider the personal experience of each individual. Not only the process of leaving their country and adjusting to the new one needs to be considered but also the situations lived in their countries of origin which might have been traumatizing per se in many cases or in combination with their person’s history, strengths and vulnerabilities.

There is always a price to pay for being an immigrant, some higher than others. It is essential to discuss these experiences with a mental health professional to elaborate them and make peace with the past and be open to live the present.

Gabriela Giuggioloni MA, LCSW-R

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