page_title: Ulysses syndrome
section_title: Causes
hierarchical_section_title: Ulysses syndrome / Causes
caption_attribution_description: العربية: لاجئون سوريُّون وعراقيُّون يصلون من تُركيا إلى منطقة سكالا سيكامياس، بِجزيرة لسبوس (مديلي)، في اليونان. يظهر في الصُورة كذلك مُتطوعون إسپان (فريق نجدة - ذوي الملابس الصفراء والحمراء) من جمعيَّة "أذرع پروآكتيڤا المفتوحة" وهُم يُساعدون اللاجئين. Català: Refugiats sirians i iraquians intenten desembarcar a l'illa de Lesbos. Membres de la ONG Proactiva Open Arms (amb armilles de flotació grogues) intenten ajudar-los. Ελληνικά: Σύροι και Ιρακινοί πρόσφυγες φτάνουν στην Σκάλα Συκαμιάς Λέσβου από την Τουρκία. English: Syrian and Iraqi refugees arrive from Turkey to Skala Sykamias, Lesbos island, Greece. Volunteers (life rescue team - with yellow-red clothes) from the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms help the refugees. Español: Refugiados sirios e iraquíes tratan de desembarcar en las aguas costeras de Lesbos en Grecia, después de haber cruzado desde Turquía. Türkçe: Türkiye'den yola çıkan ve Yunanistan'ın Midilli adasına ulaşan Suriyeli ve Iraklı sığınmacılar
context_page_description: Ulysses syndrome is an atypical set of depressive, anxious, dissociative, and somatoform symptoms that results from being exposed to extreme levels of stress unique to the process of modern migration. Rather than a mental disorder, this syndrome is a natural reaction to toxic levels of stress seen in migrants who are otherwise in normal mental health.
context_section_description: Migration in the 21st century has occurred in the context of unprecedented volatility, conflict, and suffering. There are currently more forcibly displaced individuals in the world than at any other time in history, including 22.5 million refugees, 40.3 million internally displaced peoples, and 2.8 million asylum-seekers in 2016. Forced migration has profound impacts on individuals and families as their lives change suddenly and dramatically. Experiences of modern migrants include the separation of families, dissolution of communities by conflict and disaster, exposure to exploitation, and violence. Migrants remain in prolonged periods of displacement with a median time of 4 years in exile.
  Migrants often face multiple forms of uniquely intense stressors, such as the death of loved ones, lack of jobs and social support, difficulties in the migratory process, and loss of status and identity. Because many migrants lack access to healthcare in the receiving country, they are often unable to receive appropriate care and continually re-experience the mental trauma of these losses. The cumulative effect may create stress levels so intense that they exceed individuals' adaptive capacities and lead to a failure of the acculturation process. This aggravates other symptoms, including depression, anxiety, headaches, and pain.
  Extreme stressors that put individuals at risk for Ulysses syndrome, called "Ulysses stressors", can broadly be characterized into four categories:
  Forced loneliness:
  Separation from family and homeland, especially if the immigrant left his or her spouse and children behind
  Social and cultural isolation due to lack of language proficiency or familiar cultural and religious institutions
  Racial discrimination and prejudice in the receiving country
  Failure of migratory goals:
  Sense of failure of original reasons for emigration
  Pressure to earn enough money to support family back in the home country
  Lack of opportunities to acquire appropriate legal documentation, obtain work permits, and secure non-exploitative quality jobs
  Poor access to housing and health services,
  Dangers of the journey:
  Crowded rafts and boats without life jackets
  Fear of arrest and deportation
  Physical and sexual abuse
  Struggle to survive:
  Difficulties procuring basic necessities such as food, water, and shelter
  Middle-aged and elderly adults are typically more strongly affected than younger people are because they experience a larger loss of status and social mobility, have fewer encounters with people outside of the community through school or work, and are less likely to be exposed to the receiving country's mainstream culture. Moreover, older immigrants typically have greater difficulty learning the receiving country's language, which may substantially impair their ability to understand and interact with the new culture.
caption: Syrian and Iraqi refugees arriving in Lesvos, Greece (2015)
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