Homesickness — unpleasant, but natural

Freshman year, for many college students, marks a time of firsts. First apartment, first roommate, first time away from home. But for many, it also means a first experience with homesickness.

Although the American Psychological Association no longer classifies homesickness as a disease, doctors in the 18th and 19th centuries took it seriously. Homesickness, more commonly known in that era as nostalgia, was a potential killer. In extreme cases, nostalgia could mean fever-like symptoms and despondency. In 1688, a Swiss medical student named Johannes Hofer suggested that the only possible remedy was a return home.

Today’s psychologists agree that while homesickness is not fatal, it still poses a threat to college students hoping to complete their degrees. In its most extreme forms, homesickness is debilitating, resulting in a student who refuses to leave his or her apartment or decides to put off college in favor of staying home.

David Bush, the director of Utah State University’s Counseling and Psychological Services department, or CAPS, advocates a clean break between students and their family members. Without separation, he said, it becomes impossible for students to develop “networks of support” in a college environment.

“When students fail to let go, they call home daily — sometimes multiple times a day — and drive home on the weekend,” Bush said.

Instead, Bush encourages students to start forming relationships within the university community.

“They can allow for reasonable contact with family,” he said. “No more than once a day, or better, two or three times a week. (They should) involve themselves in the campus community, joining clubs or service organizations or attending campus activities.”

Freshman Caitlin Dinkel is learning through first-hand experience the value of campus involvement.

“I never expected myself to be homesick,” Dinkel said. She is an equine science major. “I was really independent growing up, and I thought it would be a much easier transition than it was. I didn’t realize how much I needed (my parents’) support until I moved out. But then I started spending more time with my roommates, and I went Greek… I just found things that I was interested in and reached out to others instead of shutting myself in my room and letting myself mope.”

Shutting oneself away, Bush said, is the worst thing a homesick person could do. When people isolate themselves, they inhibit themselves from forming relationships and building the emotional support necessary to keep moving forward.

Caitlin Hengge, a resident assistant in the Living Learning Community, said that very few of her residents come to her to talk about homesickness. More frequently, she said, they retreat and keep to themselves.

“It’s usually after Christmas break that people get homesick,” said Hengge, a senior double majoring in pre-nursing and human movement science. “It’s a pretty normal thing. But when people come to me and tell me that they’re transferring, that’s when I get concerned. I usually try to tell them to get involved in an organization on campus that they love. Or to get more involved in their major. I feel like once they start getting out of their room and get more involved, they start getting better.”

Both Hengge and Dinkel agree that homesickness, while unpleasant and sometimes difficult to overcome, is a completely normal emotional response to leaving for college.

“I think the big thing for me was just realizing that I’m not the only one that gets homesick,” Dinkel said. “It was a rough transition, and it was comforting for me to know that a lot of other people felt the same way. That I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t just, ‘Oh, Caitlin’s weird and misses her mommy too much.’ It’s a very normal thing. And just reaching out to the people that are around you and getting involved helps a lot.”

While some students may have trouble removing themselves from their families and establishing their own lives, Bush suggests that parent-child division is a necessary and healthy part of growing up.

“Recognize college as the perfect opportunity to cut the apron string, and move on with healthy young adult development,” he said.

— h.mickeyd@gmail.com