Patricia Martin | Book Review: The Psychological Effects of Immigrating by Robert Tyminski
Robert Tyminski’s book, The Psychological Effects of Immigrating, is an exceptionally useful read in these turbulent times. As thoughtful people grapple with the bewildering array of policies from the White House aimed at immigrants, there is a collective anguish over how to respond. The cruel hypocrisy is that our national identity has been forged by immigrant stories. Still, sympathetic citizens also feel the tug of conscience when recent waves of immigrants aren’t easily absorbed into the economic fabric of our towns and cities as in previous generations.
At the core of Tyminski’s book is a focus on the mental health issues that arise for immigrants. A practicing Jungian analyst, Tyminski deftly weaves stories from his casework with myth and history to create an emotional landscape for the immigrant experience.
Join Robert Tyminski on March 8 at our Community Day 2025: Awakening Mythic Wisdom for Individual and Community Renewal
The basis of empathy is context. If we cannot see the human struggle of immigrants, it’s largely because it’s being drowned out by survival memes—it’s us against them. More constructive solutions elude us. This is where Tyminski’s work shines. His writing creates poignant profiles of immigrants working hard to fit in and the psychological costs for failing to do so: isolation, erasure, inadequacy, idealization of a past life, and feelings of doom and dread.
Some time after reading Tyminski’s book, my son told me he wants to apply for dual citizenship and asked me to the gather necessary documents. Since his grandmother was an immigrant, he qualifies. Going through her papers, I came across the official certificate granting her US citizenship. Tattered at the edges, the document anchored me in her story. I couldn’t downplay the emotional costs of her leaving behind family and a culture she loved. No doubt, her journey took courage that bolstered her for life in America. It was a legacy she handed down to us.
Leaving one’s home country requires strength and significant hope for a better life. That spirit is part of what makes America great. In fact, we are a culture of mythic hopes: new horizons, vast frontiers, and bootstrapping gumption. Often, those traits are imported. Yet, an angry chorus in the zeitgeist insists otherwise.
I’d wager many of us know legal immigrants who believe fervently in the US Constitution and the American way. Often, they are the true believers. Much of the drive and determination that defines American character comes from those who arrive with little more than their papers and a few belongings. This reality should not be trivialized as the US wrestles with its own identity crisis. Are we still the land of opportunity and plenty? Or are we becoming something else? We can’t evolve as a society unless we’re willing to face the shadow material lurking beneath the cries to round up immigrants. Namely, that we fear the American dream is threadbare, and we’re hoping no one notices. As Jung wrote, “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” Tyminski’s book beckons us to such consciousness. Moreover, the book offers practical wisdom, including chapter summaries that plainly land his points, all delivered in beautifully accessible prose.
To be sure, absorbing waves of refugees comes at a psychological cost. For example, “front line workers, whether they be teachers, workers, or lay people,” benefited from psychoanalysis to stem their anxiety and burnout, he writes. He goes on to enumerate what worked when he met with staff from the Sigmund Freud Institute in Frankfurt, who had been working extensively with refugees; this included: “attention to unconscious group processes,” “normalizing negative emotions,” and “close observations of non-verbal interactions.” In this way, the book is a field guide for supporting those on the ground dealing with immigration.
More broadly, Tyminski’s book is a reminder that what binds us together as a nation isn’t one’s personal tenure in this country. Rather, it’s the bright hope for a better life. That is simple enough. What’s not so easy is protecting that flame when changing winds threaten to extinguish it. And, there’s something else. We must find the courage face the shadow it casts.
Review written by Patricia Martin author, researcher, and Professional Affiliate at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago where she hosts the podcast Jung in the World.
Books by Robert Tyminski:
Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.