About Homesickness: What Is Homesickness

Read about homesickness and how it can lead to depression and anxiety. Depression not only affects the person who is going through it, but also everyone around them, including friends, family, loved ones, spouses, and children.

What is homesickness

Homesickness is an emotion caused by either anticipated separation or when actual separation occurs. Separation from loved ones and a specific home environment are often followed by anxiety and depression. This condition can be mild or severe. Homesickness occurs when you travel and may become worse by unfamiliar environments in your own country but it might be even worse if you have gone to a foreign country and the separation is going to be long term. This is a condition experienced by young children and youth mostly but it is not uncommon among adults. Young children will experience a sense of insecurity' dread' helplessness or anxiety on their first day at school or at summer camp or if they go on a vacation without their parents. University students who leave home and stay in boarding schools also experience this emotion. Even adults who have had to leave their families for a short or long term due to their jobs may experience home sickness.

Though it may not be common in the developed countries' in Asian countries adults leave their spouse' children' parents and other loved ones to go to work in the Middle East and are separated for years. Parting scenes witnessed at airports are heart breaking and you can only imagine what their emotions can be. Because of poverty they have no other choice and it is not even possible for their families to ever join them. In some cases it is the mothers who leave behind infants to go to work in foreign lands.

Physical symptoms which are known as `somatization’ occurs sometimes when a person has to be away from home. The reactions are ulcers' cramps' diarrhea' headaches' tense muscles' tears' vomiting' crying and withdrawal. All these symptoms will not be visible in one person and each person will react differently and cope in a different way.

Symptoms in homesickness are usually emotional but it can also become physical with health problems accompanying emotions. Often after leaving home people are longing to go back home with continuously missing their parents' children' spouse' relatives' friends' pets and other aspects of familiar surroundings. These emotions are feelings of deep sadness' depression' frustration' anger or hopelessness. This may even lead to suicidal thoughts. Homesickness' if not handled properly can lead to adverse situations. Some are known to have resorted to alcohol and smoking and others have gone even to worse extremes by taking drugs and getting involved in unhealthy relationships to overcome the remorse and sadness they feel' as well as to while away their time.

Rather than allowing your children to go through homesickness' it is better to train them by separating them for short periods from their young days and as they advance in age to send them for longer periods of separation at short distances so that if things do get bad you can always bring them back home and when they really have to be separated for long periods with long distances between one another' it will not be so bad.

If you are going through homesickness it helps to talk to someone' either a friend' tutor' supervisor' pastor or counselor. Be in contact with the loved ones you have left behind. Remember that this is not an uncommon emotion and that everyone goes through these emotions at some stage or the other. Get enough food and sleep. Get enough exercise as that will make you tired and at the end of the day if your day is full of work and activity you will hardly have any time to sit and mope.