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An Adaptation Group for Middle-Aged Clients from the Former Soviet Union

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An Adaptation Group for Middle-Aged Clients from the Former Soviet Union AN ADAPTATION GROUP FOR MIDDLE-AGED CLIENTS FROM THE FORMER SOVIET UNION ADELE NIKOLSKY Coordinator of the Russian Program, Madeleine Borg Community Services Clinic of the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, Brooklyn, New York Emigres from the former Soviet Union are able to participate in group therapy if the group process is not initiated by the leader but is a spontaneous byproduct of some more emotionally neutral process, such as lectures or group activities. The goal of the group described in this article was to help its middle-aged members break out of their isolation and adapt to their new country. To reach this goal, several modalities were applied in tum and together—lectures, regular group process, cultural activities, and finally transi­ tion to a self-help group. This wasn Y, as it might seem, another lost crisis after emigration. These women's generation. This W(3S the only generation of ability to share was limited ottiy to informa­ Russians that found itself. tion on community resources they all were Joseph Brodsky interested in, such as legal aid, child care Less Than One (1986, p. 29) facilities, and the like. On the other hand, there has been a posi­ t present, mental health clinics serving tive experience in a group for battered A:lients from the former Soviet Union women from the FSU that was run by (FSU) have to cope with often overwhelm­ NY ANA. However, all these group mem­ ing numbers of middle-aged immigrants bers had had an opportunity to develop a presenting with symptoms of high anxiety good rapport and trustfiil relationship with and depression. The majority of these cli­ the leader in individual therapy with her ents need psychotropic medication for pro­ conducted before the group began. Our ad­ longed periods of time. Although indi­ aptation group needed to be more inclusive. vidual psychodynamic therapy concentrat­ One helpftil clue was found in a success- ing on the mourning of losses and their pos­ fill time-limited educational group for par­ sible repair has proven to be quite effective ents from the FSU held under the auspices for these clients, the need to provide effi­ ofthe Jewish Family Services of Boston cient help to large numbers of these clients (Irene Belozersky, personal commuitica- necessitated an attempt to use the group tion). This group discussed major problem­ modality. And, in fact, it seemed appropri­ atic areas of parenting for emigre parents. ate to work through the emigration prob­ The group leader encouraged the parents to lems together with peers for whom this ex­ ask questions. In the course of spontaneous perience also happened to be traumatizing. discussions the parents started to share their Anna Halberstadt and Lena Mandel difficulties and to receive the support of (1989), describing their experience in lead­ group members. ing a psychotherapy group of Soviet emigre It seemed that the group process became widows, concluded that the suspiciousness possible because sharing was not a formal and hosttiity characteristic of the emigre goal of the group and was not demanded by commuruty did not let group members share the group leader. Seen by these clients as their feelings. This author had a similar an authority figure, the group leader is im­ discouraging experience with a group of mediately associated by Soviet enugres with young mothers whose marriages went into forced ideological indoctrination, which 316 An Adaptation Group for Middle-Aged Clients / 317 was always done in groups. In contrast, make, and the owner of a soccer ball was this group process spontaneously developed consideted a bourgeois. The coats and un­ on the members' own irutiative and evolved derwear that we wore were cut out by our as a byproduct of an emotionally neutral mothers from our fathers' uniforms and process, in this case lectures. patched drawers: exit Sigmund Freud. So Relying on this positive experience, a we did not develop taste fot possessions.... time-limited educational group for middle- We nevet had a lOom of out own to lure our aged emigres was planned. It was to cover girls into, nor did our girls have rooms. Our topics related to three main areas: (1) psy­ love affairs were mostly walking and talking chological problems at different stages of affairs; it would make an astronomical sum if the immigrant's adaptation; (2) differences we were charged for mileage....We never in American and Soviet views and values had what are called "material stimuh"....If concerning family roles, education, money, somebody sold himself out, it was not for the the role of work, and religion; and (3) prob­ sake of goods or comfort: there were none. lems of identity—as a person from the FSU, He was selling out because of iimer want and as a Soviet Jew, and as a new American he knew that himself (Table 1). The initial group had 18 members who These recent emigres shared several com­ were from 50 to 65 years of age. All were mon features: professionals from the large cities, mainly from the Ukraine and Belarus. There were • They had felt a part and a parcel of the also a few Moscovites and former residents Soviet system, believed in the Soviet ide­ of St. Petersburg. ology, identified with it, and learned to succeed in it. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF • As a rule, they had neither much motiva­ THE GROUP tion nor much preparation for emigra­ tion. They either felt forced to follow the These group members belong to the genera­ families of their children or fled from tion born and raised in the Stalin years fear of the total impoverishment that be­ when the Soviet totalitarian society was in came the fate of their generation under full force. Yet, their youth coincided with perestroika, with its economic chaos, the "thaw" of post-Stalinism when the rampant inflation, rising anti-Semitism, country was slowly opening to the world, and nationalist wars. when repression subsided, and the Commu­ • They encountered a tight American job nist ideology started to lose its power over market. Their quite poor health nar­ the Soviet population. The Nobel Prize- rowed their chances for successful em­ wirming poet Joseph Brodsky (1986, p. 18) ployment even further. wrote about this—his own—^generation: • They had successful careers in the past and had built their identities mainly We emerged from under the post-war rubble around their roles at work. The loss of when the state was too busy patching its own social status after emigration was a dev­ skin and could not look after us very well. astating blow to their self-esteem. We entered schools, and whatever elevated • All experienced psychological problems rubbish we were taught there, the suffering of varying severity in these initial peri­ and poverty were visible all around. The ods of adaptation. empty windows gaped at us like skulls' or­ bits, and as httle as we were, we sensed In addition the former citizens of Ukraine tragedy....The amount of goods was very and Belams had experienced the Chernobyl hmited, but not having known otherwise, we catastrophe accompaitied by widespread ra- did not mind it. Bikes were old, of prewar SUMMER 1996 Journal of Jewish Communal Service / 318 Table 1. Discussion Topics of the Adaptation Group 1. DiffCTent reasons for emigration (economic reasons; safety; psychological reasons: separation; uniting fac­ tor for unstable famihes; realization of creative potential; marginality; criminality). How a decision on emi­ gration was made? hiitiator of emigration. 2. Emigrants and refugees. Personal features ofweU-ad^tingemigi ants: positive attitude toward risk taking; ability to be alone and/or ability to easily connect with people; cujiosity; love of changes. 3. Stages of emigration. • Transit places and time in transit. • Initial stage of resettlement. Main task—satisfaction of physi':;al needs. Psychological aspects: possible changes in family roles; "division of labor" between one masti=ring the new life and one keeping ties with the past (together they provide a needed mix ofthe old and new). Drfenses: eiq)horia, nostalgic idealization of the past, withdrawal 4. Need for mourning of emigration losses. Refusal to mourn as a reason for crisis in later stages of resettle­ ment. 5. hnageof America and Americans before the emigration and after it. Pre-emigrationcUched ideas of fiiture adulation: "I'U leam language just by hving there," "I am ready to do any work," "children will ad^t as easily as fish swims in wata-," "I'll solve all my personal problems there," "Everyone is well-to-do there," "our children wiU get excellent education," "American medicine can cure any illness," etc. Rqection ofthe realistic feedback information fi-om those who left earher. How Americans see the Russian emigrants? Our feelings regiirding their attitude to us. How we see Americans? 6. Our Jewidi identity. What meant for you to be a Jew in the Soviet IMon? Differences in preservation of Jewidi traditions in different areas ofthe FSU, in famihes of different social stratas and cultural background. diation-disease phobia and real deteriora­ separations caused by emigration. tion ofthe population's health. As children When the thirteen weeks were coming to during the Nazi occupation they suffered an end, the group anxiously searched for a through evacuation under fire, witnessed way to continue its work together as the atrocities, or even lived in concentration members had reached some degree of cohe­ camps. Some lost numerous family mem­ sion and mutual trust and felt the need to bers in the Holocaust. Yet, this past in­ continue their discussions. The group cluded not only hardships but also pride for recontratrted as an open-ended psycho­ their victorious country and admiration for therapy iP"oup.
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