🇪🇸 Barcelona
Spain
Another language layer, and a city that reads you as a visitor
For many people Barcelona is the dream city: the sea, the architecture, the sun and an international economy. Two things are mentioned less before arrival — the region’s second language, and that you are living in a city so used to visitors it assumes you are one too.
The language nobody mentioned before you came
Many people study Spanish before emigrating and arrive confident. Then they discover that Catalonia has a regional second language which is central in schools, in much of the administration and in parts of public life.
You can live in Spanish and most people will answer you in it. An official letter may still arrive in Catalan, your child's schooling is largely in Catalan, and conversation among friends can switch into it.
The psychological effect is cumulative: you have just reached fluency in one language and you are placed back in the beginner's position. For parents there is an extra layer — your child is educated in a language you are not learning, and helping with homework moves out of reach.
It is also a politically sensitive subject, and part of the tiredness is having to be careful about where and how you discuss it.
Living in a city where everyone assumes you are passing through
Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in the world. Its residents have spent years living alongside a population that arrives and leaves, and they have understandably become more guarded.
For a migrant who actually lives here, that produces a permanent misunderstanding: you are treated as somebody who will be gone in a few months. You have to establish repeatedly that you are staying. The recent wave of remote workers and temporary residents has increased that wariness, alongside rent pressure that has left long-standing residents unhappy and can cool the reception further.
The practical consequence is that belonging in Barcelona takes longer than the city appears to promise at first sight.
The public sector, private insurance, and the practical choice
Access to health care runs through registering your address and obtaining a health card. The public system works well for general care; for regular psychotherapy, the shortage of clinical psychologists means long gaps between sessions.
Many Barcelona residents take private insurance for that reason. Appointments come faster, the number of covered sessions is usually capped, and you choose a therapist from the insurer's own list.
On either route the session is in Spanish or Catalan. And if you are still learning a second language, discussing anxiety in it is a different task entirely.
What Farsi-speaking newcomers in Barcelona find hardest
A second regional language, and being returned to the beginner’s position
Parents shut out of their child’s schooling
Being read as temporary, and having to prove you are staying
Rent pressure and public frustration with tourism
Long gaps in the public sector and session caps in private insurance
The political sensitivity of language, and constant care in conversation
A language you do not have to be a beginner in
When your day runs in a second and sometimes a third language, an hour in your mother tongue is not merely easier; it is more precise. You can say things you do not yet have the words for in Spanish.
Sessions are online, uncapped, at a clear price, and independent of which Spanish city you live in.
Farsi-speaking therapists available to you
Every Emotral session is online, so these therapists — wherever in the world they live — are available to Iranians in Barcelona, and you see the session time in your own local clock.
Lena Ebadi
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Individual Therapy (Adults)
Dr. Mojgan Shariatpanahi
Individual Therapy (Adults), Family Therapy, Couples Therapy
Dr. Jalal Khademi
PhD in Psychology, Depression, Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Dr. Fatemeh Mesgarian
Analytic Psychotherapy, Individual Therapy (Adults), Individual Counseling
Dr. Farzaneh Abroshan
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Schema Therapy, Group Therapy
Dr. Farzad Rasoulof
Schema Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Other city guides: Madrid