Introduction

Homesickness is a common experience. Everybody has an intuitive idea about homesickness is and how it is experienced. Many of us can even draw from personal experiences. Throughout history it has also been subject of many poets and writers. The first written accounts of homesickness can be found in the Bible, Psalm 137: “By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yeah wept when we remembered Zion” and in Homer's description of Ulysses who was weeping and rolling on the floor when he was thinking of home. From the 17th century onward systematic (case) studies of homesickness have been reported, although they are sparse. For instance, one case described by the 17th-century Swiss physician Johannes Hofer (cited in Rosen, 1975) is of a young man who was lying on his death-bed when homesickness was diagnosed. When he was sent home his condition improved immediately. Another illustration is the case, described by Jaspers (1909), of a 16-year-old maid who starts fires in four places in order to destroy the house. As a consequence she would be useless to the lady of the house and be sent home.

These personal accounts, in either prose or case studies, probably do not do justice to the very different manifestations of homesickness. However, insight into the psychological context of homesickness is very important for the generation of hypotheses. Furthermore, it is helpful in distinguishing homesickness from other more or less related concepts like nostalgia, depression and separation anxiety. The current scientific literature is rather slim and scattered. Therefore, in this chapter I will integrate these findings and discuss the nature of homesickness and the corresponding reactions. However, first homesickness will be differentiated from related concepts like nostalgia and grief.

How does homesickness relate to other concepts?

Homesickness is an emotion which is felt after leaving house and home and is characterized by negative emotions, ruminative cognitions about home, and somatic symptoms. The question is how this feeling can conceptually be distinguished from related emotions and syndromes like nostalgia, separation anxiety, school phobia, grief, depression, adjustment disorder, agoraphobia, depletion anxiety, claustrophobia, and topophilia. In this section homesickness will be compared with each of these concepts and resemblances and differences will be highlighted.