The “Ulysses syndrome”: an eponym identifies a psychosomatic disorder in modern migrants.
Abstract
Due to civil wars, violence and persecutions, between 2015 and 2016, more than 1.4 million people, from the Middle East and Africa, fled their counties and migrated to Europe. The vast majority of migrants, who have already experienced enormous level of stressors, are faced with dangerous, often lethal, migratory journeys. Those who survive are exposed to adaptation stressors such as different languages, isolation, lack of work opportunities, diminished social status and a sense of failure in the new countries of residence. These are stressors that go far beyond the usual adaptation stresses to new cultures and migrants experience permanent crises with an imminent risk of developing the "Ulysses syndrome". As a consequence, many individuals often develop symptoms such as irritability, nervousness, migraine, tension headache, insomnia, tiredness, fear, loss of appetite and generalized ill-defined discomfort. If left untreated these symptoms, originally described by Hofer in the 17th century, may degenerate into a severe psychosomatic disorder leading to reactive depression. Here we expand the concept of Ulysses' syndrome and illustrate new initiatives aimed at reducing the level of stressors in migrants and at promoting their successful integration in their new countries.
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Migrants experience multiple stressors and this can lead to debilitating somatic complaints such as irritability, headache, migraine, nervousness, insomnia, fear and general discomfort.
“The authors describe how migrants experience multiple stressors and this can lead to debilitating somatic complaints such as irritability, headache, migraine, nervousness, insomnia, fear and general discomfort.”
From The assessment of grief in refugees and post-conflict survivors: a narrative review of etic and emic research (2018) · cites this paper as Bianucci et al., 2017
A recent study presented a phenomenon identified as 'Ulysses syndrome' or the psychosomatic disorder of modern migrants.
“Interestingly, a recent study presented a phenomenon identified as ‘Ulysses syndrome’ or the psychosomatic disorder of modern migrants (Bianucci et al., 2017).”
From The assessment of grief in refugees and post-conflict survivors: a narrative review of etic and emic research (2018) · cites this paper as Bianucci et al., 2017
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- Authors
- Bianucci, R., Charlier, P., Perciaccante, A., Lippi, D., & Appenzeller, O.
- Affiliations
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)
- University of Florence (IT)
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bianucci, Raffaella
- Venue
- European Journal of Internal Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 41
- Pages
- 30-32
- ISSN
- 0953-6205 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2601614172
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 3.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Journal of Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (202792/Z/16/Z)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Identity, and Health
- Keywords
- Ulysses syndrome, psychosomatic disorders, refugees, migrants, migration stress, reactive depression, eponyms, social integration, insomnia, headache, irritability
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Emigration and Immigration, Europe, Humans, Stress, Psychological, Syndrome, Transients and Migrants
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