Returning from expatriation is often imagined as a simple step: going back home, regaining your bearings, resuming your previous life. But in psychotherapy, a very different reality often emerges: returning is not only about place or logistics. It is also a deeply emotional and bodily experience. Many people describe a strange feeling: everything around them is “normal”… yet something inside still feels in motion. Returning from expatriation: an invisible shock After living a

Expatriation is often seen as a change of place, country, language, or culture. But in psychology, it is above all a profound identity shift. In my psychotherapy practice, I support people who discover that living abroad does not only change their environment… it transforms how they perceive themselves. And what is even less known is that returning from expatriation can sometimes be just as destabilizing as leaving. Expatriation: a silent identity transformation When someone

We’re prepared for the departure, the visas, the hunt for a flat on the other side of the world. But no one prepares us for the silence and emptiness that follow our return... We come back with a suitcase full of memories, a new version of ourselves, and sometimes with the slightly naive idea that we’ll “pick up where we left off”. That people were waiting for us. That life will be easier there because this time we’ll be on familiar ground. Then reality hits. We feel like a s

We often return to France with a suitcase full of expectations. We tell ourselves: 'That’s it, I’m back in my element, reconnecting with my friends, my language... it’s going to be fine.' But after a few weeks, reality catches up with us. We feel out of sync—sometimes irritable, or strangely nostalgic for a life we actually chose to leave behind... Sometimes, we even hit a wall of blues. In the psychology of expats, digital nomads, and modern wanderers, we often talk about 'm

I’ve had my fair share of difficult departures. I’ve known the homesickness, the language barriers, and the loneliness of those first few months in a foreign land... I learned how to face the unknown with every new arrival. I thought I was prepared for the return... and yet. Coming back to France after living abroad is, by far, the most difficult adventure I have ever experienced. The Paradox : Feeling Like a Foreigner at Home When I returned, I wasn’t expecting a never-endin

Expatriation is often seen as an adventure, an opening, a positive transformation. Yet behind this enriching experience lies a deeper psychological process: migration grief. In my psychotherapy practice, I support people who discover that moving abroad does not only change their daily life… but also their identity. Expatriation and migration grief: a profound inner transformation Migration grief refers to the emotional, psychological, and identity-related adjustments linked t