J’ai rêvé d’une grande étendue d’eau

At the Avicenne Public Hospital in Bobigny, Marie-Rose Moro, a psychiatrist for young children and teenagers, receives immigrant families from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere, for ethno-psychanalytic therapy. The patients find there something offered by no other therapy, as they can talk about themselves without putting aside their beliefs and customs. And the therapy is conducted as in traditional societies, where illnesses are treated in a group situation. The therapists collaborating with Marie-Rose Moro are themselves from different countries-from Sudan to Germany-and enrich the sessions with stories and images from their own backgrounds. At each new session, the work involves exploring the paths of the mind, tracing back past events, going into the realm of dreams. Although it is often the suffering of a child that triggers off the therapy, the whole family soon becomes concerned. A child who is uncertain about his or her origins rapidly becomes a “symptom-child” through whom the unease of the entire family finds expression.