This interview study explores the emotion work carried out by migrant women in the process of their integration into present-day Swedish society. In considering these women’s accounts and experiences of their emotion work, the analytical focus in the article is on the ways in which emotional negotiation may become part of an integration process that provides an opportunity to both change and blend in. Drawing upon Reddy’s (2001) concept of emotional regimes and Hochschild’s (1983) notion of emotion work, the argument centres on the creation and key role of ’alien habitus’, a concept addressing the formation and performance of the migrant self in the new context and describing an ability to feel part of the host society without losing one’s sense of a coherent inner self.

Att arbeta med migranter i psykiatrin innebär ett krävande emotionsarbete som tar tid och reflektion i anspråk. I en organisation där produktionen ständigt förväntas öka kan patient och lidande bli en marknadsekonomisk entitet som behandlare ska hantera i ett ökande tempo. Som följd av denna acceleration måste behandlare hitta strategier för att undvika att dräneras på emotionell energi.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore experiences and emotions of migrant women, who have been in psychotherapy in Sweden, their motives and experience of being treated in psychotherapy. The authors argue that not only traumas of the past but also social suffering in the post-migratory phase contribute to what brought them in contact with psychiatric care. Design/methodology/approach Narrative interviews with 12 migrant women, holding permanent residence permits, were conducted. The interviews were loosely structured around themes such as the experience of migration, of everyday living in Sweden, experiences of Swedish psychiatric care, and reflections and understandings of mental and physical health/ill health. Interview transcripts were analyzed thematically using abductive qualitative text analysis. Findings In the narratives an overarching motive for seeking out psychiatric help is the search for belonging and restoring a cohesive sense of self. Belonging is sought both in symbolic terms - formal access and right to health care - and in a deeper emotional sense as the therapist becomes a local adviser. The therapeutic encounter meets the human desire to be seen and confirmed as the person you are, and need to be, in the new host society. Meanwhile, psychotherapy as a way to negotiate belonging is also a risky endeavor, as the idealized view of the therapeutic relation may be disappointed. Research limitations/implications This study provides the interviewed migrant women's perception of the psychotherapeutic relationship. Yet this relationship needs to be elaborated from different perspectives to improve understanding of psychotherapy in psychiatric care. Originality/value The paper fills a gap in research concerning the dominance of the psychiatric discourse over subjective understandings of health and illness, and how this relates to emotions of social suffering in the case of migrant women.