What happens when this feeling of home is challenged by novel environments – by mobility, or constant change of home? How does change in physical location affect our sense of psychological home, if at all?
In the literature on immigration, various studies looked at the sense of belonging as one aspect of the immigrant's experience, as discussed earlier. However, very little has been said about the experience of psychological homelessness, in which the immigrant does not feel at home in the host country nor too, to some degree, in their country of origin. As a distinct experience, this has received very little direct attention in the literature, even outside the topic of immigration.
The terms ‘psychological homelessness’ has been suggested in the literature only twice. The first time it appeared was in a case study by Iain Dresser from 1985. This was a psychoanalytic case study exploring the experience of a nine year old girl
who moved numerous times from one foster home to another. Dresser showed that the impact on the girl was profound, causing severe psychological damage. He showed that psychotherapy can assist in cases of children constantly moving homes, both in management of the process for the child and the foster family, and as a preventative measure for future greater difficulties (Dresser, 1985). However, Dresser does not provide a definition of the term, and does not look at how the child perceives or understands this experience herself. A more clear definition of the term is needed, as well as a more subjective understanding of what meaning it may hold for the person experiencing it.
Matri (2005) in his book about the relationship between feeling at home and healthy psychological development, looked at what happens when a strong sense of home is lacking for the individual, such as constantly moving in childhood, or when the childhood home was abusive or emotionally inconsistent. He revealed the extent to which this sense of psychological homelessness (although he does not use the term) can impact on the person's basic well being, causing depression, anxiety and low self esteem. It can lead people to seek therapy in an attempt to rebuild this sense of existential alienation or lack of belonging and home. He demonstrated how therapy can help the client rebuild this sense of home in him/herself, by creating a sense of security and home within the therapy room, thus helping the client build a new more stronger sense of self (Matri, 2005).
However, the studies described above concentrate primarily on the effect of psychological homelessness in relation to childhood trauma and developmental difficulties. They focus on the individual developmental process as if in relative isolation from the cultural and wider social world (outside the family context). What does psychological homelessness mean in the context of the social world surrounding
the individual, assuming the crucial role this environment has in shaping and influencing the individual’s identity and self concept?
In a paper presented at the International Conference on Conflict Resolution in 2003, Betty McLellan explored the sense of psychological homelessness and alienation felt by Australian women as a result of the Australian government's decision to join the allied forces in Iraq (McLellan, 2003). In this paper McLellan defined psychological homelessness as the 'estrangement from society; feelings of being an outsider, foreigner or outcast'. She showed that women in particular can feel this sense of alienation in their home country because 'the masculinist world of violence and conflict and war leaves us [women] with “no place to call home”’ (McLellan, 2003). However, McLellan's study has numerous methodological weaknesses. Firstly, she does not explain how she chose her interviewees or what questions she asked them in the email-based study she conducted. Secondly, it seems that she only presented responses which fitted her hypothesis, discarding or choosing not to present those which were contradictory. And thirdly, she does not explain how she reached this particular definition of psychological homelessness, and how her participants understood its meaning.
Greg Madison (2006) explored the effects of voluntary migration, particularly on those who have resided in many countries. He found that people develop an existential sense of not belonging anywhere, of not being at home in this world. He termed this deep existential state ‘existential migration’, and described how it actually provided the individual with an opportunity to explore new experiences and thus new aspects of their self and identity. He described these individuals as open to new experiences and longing for the freedom which the re-location allowed. At the same time, he acknowledged the paradoxical nature of their experience, particularly when
they attempt to simultaneously build a sense of belonging and home, and free themselves from these feelings.
While his research raises some valuable points regarding this under- investigated experience, Madison does not look at the impact this experience has on people’s identity processes beyond the opportunity to discover new aspects of the self. More specifically, he does not address the impact this experience can have on the management of multiple identity components, such as identity as a woman, as a spouse, a national, or a parent. In addition, all the participants in his study actively chose to migrate, which as he acknowledges is crucial to the understanding of their experience. This calls for an exploration into the phenomenological experience of those who see the choice to migrate as a much less straightforward process, involving more ambivalence and complexity.