Homesickness in Adults: Symptoms, Causes & Coping Strategies

We often think of homesickness as something that only happens in childhood. Maybe we experienced it during sleepovers or when staying away for long periods at summer camp. But adults can feel homesick, too. Homesickness in adults can involve missing people, places, routines, traditions, and the feeling of knowing where you belong.

Adjusting to a new place can be emotionally complicated. To help you navigate this, we’ll explore:

• What adult homesickness is.
• Reasons adults might experience this feeling.
• Common emotional and physical homesickness symptoms.
• Ways of coping with homesickness after moving, relocating, or going to college.
• How therapy for homesickness can help.

What Is Homesickness in Adults?

Homesickness is the distress some adults feel when they’re separated from their home or the people and places they associate with it. One of its defining features is frequently thinking about home, although homesickness can also involve:^[1]

• Anxiety.
• Sadness.
• Withdrawal.
• Difficulty concentrating.

But “home” doesn’t always mean the house you lived in. Let’s consider some of the other possible reasons why someone might experience homesickness.

Why Do Adults Get Homesick?

Moving can change not only your address, but also your social life, routines, support system, and sense of belonging. Research suggests that geographic relocation can threaten our sense of social belonging because we leave established relationships and networks behind.^[2]

Some of the common causes of homesickness in adults are:

1. Moving away from family and friends: Before a move, support often happens without much planning. For instance, you may have been able to just stop by your parents’ house or meet a friend after work.But afterwards, the situation might be completely different. For example, homesickness at college is common when moving away, with research suggesting up to 70% of students experience homesickness at some point.^[3]
2. Losing the familiarity of everyday life: Sometimes it’s the seemingly small things that make relocation stress add up. When you move to a new place, you usually need to find a new doctor, learn a different commute, and navigate unfamiliar neighborhoods.None of these tasks seem enormous when done separately. But together, they can make everyday life feel unfamiliar and mentally tiring, contributing to loneliness after moving.
3. Feeling stuck between your old life and your new one: The emotional adjustment after relocation can also involve feeling caught between two versions of your life. Your old life is no longer your everyday reality, but your new surroundings don’t feel like home yet.

Homesickness in adults can happen at any age. While homesickness at college is often discussed, you can also struggle with it when you’re separated from established relationships and routines, regardless of the situation.

What Are the Symptoms of Homesickness?

Homesickness symptoms aren’t limited to saying or feeling, “I miss home.” Homesickness can affect your emotions, thoughts, behavior, and sometimes your physical well-being. Signs may include:

• Frequently thinking or talking about home.
• Feeling sad or crying more often.
• Feeling lonely or disconnected.
• Irritability.
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Trouble sleeping.
• Changes in appetite.
• Low motivation.
• Comparing everything in your new location to home.
• Worrying that moving was a mistake.
• Avoiding opportunities to socialize.
• Feeling especially emotional after talking with family or friends.
• Losing interest in activities you usually enjoy.
• Feeling preoccupied with when you can visit or move back.

For many people, some of these feelings are simply part of adapting to a major change. But persistent homesickness can affect your mental health.

How Homesickness Can Affect Mental Health

Research on homesickness has shown some associations with mental health conditions, such as increased anxiety and depression.^[4]

Uncertainty can contribute to anxiety during major life transitions because you don’t yet know what your new life is going to look like.^[5]

Homesickness depression might look like intense sadness after moving. However, feeling sad because you miss home isn’t necessarily the same as having depression.

If the loneliness after moving becomes persistent or you’ve lost interest in things you normally enjoy, professional support may help.

How to Cope With Homesickness as an Adult

Coping with homesickness isn’t about forcing yourself to stop missing home. Missing people and places that matter to you is understandable. Instead, the goal is finding ways to stay connected to what matters while gradually building a life where you are now. Here are some things that can help with homesickness in adults:

Keep Some Familiar Parts of Your Routine

When your surroundings have changed, keeping parts of your usual routine can give your day some predictability. Maybe that’s:

• Making the same breakfast you always have.
• Keeping your usual exercise routine.
• Calling a family member on Sunday afternoons.

You don’t have to reinvent your entire life because you relocated.

Stay Connected Without Putting Your New Life on Hold

Maintaining relationships with people back home can provide important emotional support. Schedule calls, plan visits when possible, send friends pictures of your new neighborhood, or keep traditions going from a distance.

But notice whether staying connected is also making it harder to engage with your new environment. If every evening is spent talking to people back home or every weekend is reserved for traveling back, there may be little opportunity to create relationships where you live now.

You don’t have to choose between your old and new life, but both need room to exist.

Build One Connection at a Time

You also don’t need to immediately replace the social circle you spent years developing somewhere else.

Focus on one connection:

• Ask a coworker to get lunch.
• Introduce yourself to a neighbor.
• Talk to someone in your class.
• Attend one community event.
• Volunteer for something that connects to your values.

Social belonging appears to play an important role in homesickness, which means developing connections in a new environment may be an important part of adjustment.

Stop Expecting the New Place to Feel Like Home Immediately

One of the hardest parts of homesickness after moving is wondering when you’re finally going to feel settled. Try giving the experience some room to develop. You probably didn’t build the relationships, routines, and memories associated with your old home overnight.

Your new environment may need time to become meaningful to you, too. Given time, you might just realize that you’ve adjusted to the new surroundings without noticing any major shifts as they happened.

When Therapy for Homesickness May Help

For many people, homesickness gradually becomes less intense as new routines, relationships, and experiences develop. But you don’t have to wait indefinitely if you’re finding it hard to cope.

Therapy for homesickness may be worth considering if you:

• Feel anxious or depressed most days.
• Have become increasingly isolated.
• Find it difficult to work or study.
• Struggle with sleep or everyday responsibilities.
• Avoid leaving your home.
• Have stopped enjoying activities you usually like.
• Feel preoccupied with moving back.
• Don’t feel that your distress is improving with time.

Therapy can give you somewhere to talk openly about what you miss while also helping you manage anxiety, loneliness, or other challenges that are making adjustment harder.

Get Mental Health Support for Major Life Transitions With Mission Connection

At Mission Connection, we understand that sometimes adjusting to major life changes takes more support than simply giving it time. Our personalized outpatient mental health programs support adults experiencing concerns such as anxiety, depression, stress, and difficulty coping with homesickness after relocation.

Our whole-person treatment approach considers your symptoms, needs, strengths, and goals. That means we don’t believe one approach works for everyone. Instead, we combine evidence-based therapies, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), with holistic methods like mindfulness and somatic therapy. This comprehensive approach allows us to find the treatment that works best for you.

In addition to standard outpatient care at our locations in California, Virginia, and Washington, we also offer more intensive levels of care, such as a partial hospitalization program (PHP) or an intensive outpatient program (IOP). We are in-network with most major insurance providers.

You don’t have to stop missing home to begin feeling more grounded where you are. Call us at 866-833-1822 to find out more about our in-person, virtual telehealth, or hybrid program that combines in-person and virtual care, or get started online.

Homesickness in Adults FAQ

If you’re finding it hard to cope with homesickness, you may wonder how long it will last, whether what you’re feeling is normal, and what might make adjusting easier. Below, we answer some common questions about adult homesickness.