The Most Common Effects of Homesickness

The term “homesickness” refers to the functional impairment or the distress, which is precipitated by an anticipated or actual separation from what one is familiar with. Occasionally, homesickness can be severe, and hence, it is viewed in the context of the adjustment disorders by the American Psychiatric Association mode of classification. Specifically, homesickness is characterized by depressed mood and anxiety. One can easily distinguish homesickness from related anxiety disorders due to the unique presentation of recurring thoughts focused on home, namely loved ones, house, homeland, pets, home cooking, and a wish to return home. Homesickness can affect negatively one’s cognition, behavior, emotions, and physical condition to an extent of warranting clinical attention (Thurber and Walton 3). The purpose of writing this paper is to discuss the topic of homesickness as it has had adverse effects on me while at school.

All people who for some reason happen to be far from home experience homesickness, since relocation and tuning to a new place of residence can be stressful, especially where coping strategies and resources may be lacking. This is more common among the youngsters as compared to people who are advanced in age (Shahmohammadi and Irannejad 72). The research that was conducted involving children and adolescents who lived away from home showed that homesickness is associated with depression, anxiety and loneliness. It also revealed that homesickness that is intense can be considered problematic when it worsens existing anxiety and mood disorders, or when it precipitates mental or physical conditions such as appetite change, insomnia (lack of sleep), gastrointestinal upsets, diabetes and even compromising the immune syst...

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...support (Thurber and Walton 4).

Taking everything aforementioned into consideration, people should understand that the feeling of homesickness is common to everyone. This is more so because usually people tend to feel comfortable with what they are used to and, what is more, they always develop anxiety due to the new environment they find themselves in. As a result, we should all normalize the feeling of sickness as a way of reducing the intensity of the same

Works Cited

Shahmohammad, Nayereh, and Irannejad Parisa. Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioural Management of Stress on Student Homesickness. International Conference on Education and Management Technology, 13(2011): 71-75. 2011. Print.

Thurber, Christopher A., and Walton Edward. Home sickness and Adjustment in University Students. Journal of American College Health, 60.5(2012): 1-5. 2012. Print.