Arranged Marriage and Migration

Generally speaking, it is considered a “consensual” arranged marriage when the family choose the spouse, but the offspring is free to accept or not. In such a marriage, frequent in many immigrant communities, family take the lead, but the ultimate choice to marry remains with the individual. In other words, an arranged married is not necessarily a forced marriage, since the offspring can recognize the traditional authority of the family and accept it. In migration countries, the conflict between the home country culture and the process of acculturation very often set off a stiffening of the traditional cultural practices, usually due to the fear to lose the original cultural identity. Studies show eating disorders and self-mutilation as major clinical consequences of force marriage and highlights forced marriage as one of the most relevant cause of suicide. A sensitive issue linked to psychological consequences of forced marriage is also the attitude of the specialist who get to know about such a situation regarding a patient