Can Homesickness Really Lead to Death?

Many know homesickness from their own experience. Especially children are often affected when you travel for the first time or spend the night in unfamiliar surroundings. How devastating can the consequences of homesickness be and why is it also called the “Swiss disease”?

Why do we feel homesick?

Home is the place where one finds security and safety. One lives in orderly structures and enjoys the habit. If one leaves this place, it can happen that one gets the feeling of losing order and security. Since the need for security is one of the basic needs, this loss is perceived as particularly threatening and painful.

Symptoms of homesickness

Homesickness can lead to severe disruption of the body and soul in blatant individual cases. Sufferers often suffer from loss of appetite and lack of drive. It can lead to a complete debilitation of the body, which in turn can bring consequential symptoms such as hallucinations, fever or frequent vomiting. Furthermore, psychological suffering may develop.

All the alternatives that are not available to us at the moment seem much more attractive at the same time. Depending on the situation and the personality of the person affected, homesickness can actually lead to death due to the considerable physiological after-effects. However, this rarely occurs because homesickness can be cured by returning home.

Homesickness – “The Swiss Disease”

At the end of the 16th century, numerous medical treatises were written reporting on the strange affliction of Swiss soldiers stationed out of the country. It was observed that the soldiers were increasingly melancholy and the number of deserters increased. Even then, it was suspected that the altered air was largely responsible for the physical illnesses. The Swiss physician Johannes Hofer published his dissertation “Homesickness as a Disease” in 1688. He saw the illness as a psycho-physiological consequence of a change of environment.

Furthermore, he also made the change of air responsible for the disease. Therefore, homesickness is still called a “Swiss disease” today, although the change of air can no longer be seen as a cause. Whether homesickness is a disease is still controversially discussed today. Many medical experts see homesickness more as a condition.