I came across an interesting article Monday in the Ecuadorian daily El Comercio on what some psychologists call the Ulysses syndrome, which is an illness that inflicts some immigrants when they live separated in faraway lands from their loved ones.
The article continues: Norma lived in terror and in hiding. This 45-year-old single mother left her 11-year-old son in 1999 when she migrated to Madrid. When she moved to Spain, she didn’t know anyone never mind have have a place to sleep. She was an illegal alien.
The woman was afraid that the police would find and deport her. “It was that way nine years ago,” she admits. I would never go out for a stroll. I’d forget to board a metro at stops because I was in another world thinking of my child.
It took some time for the Ecuadorian to find work. She eventually got a low-paying job that paid 300 euros ($435) a month working four hours a day. She’d wire money to her family in Ecuador, pay debts and lived in extreme conditions.
This is one example of the Ulysses syndrome.
Immigrants cannot sometimes figure out why they feel depressed. Psychiatrist Joseba Achotegui of the Universitat de Barcelona describes the illness in the following manner, according to an article in the Naples Sun Times: It comprises loneliness, as family and friends were left behind; a sense of personal failure, and a survival struggle that takes over all other priorities. The syndrome is characterized by physical symptoms like headaches, and psychological symptoms like depression.
Those who are critical of immigrants and accuse them wrongly of being lazy and that they don’t want to learn the local culture, nothing could be further form the truth. The only way an immigrant can survive in a new country is by NOT being lazy and learning the ropes of the new culture.
February 14, 2008 at 11:11 am
It’s a rough road, and someone always waiting to make a buck of your hide using one pretence or another, but what better pretexte than someone who doesn’t have permission to work.
Immigrants are used, and abused from the bottom to the top echelons of power. They’re a usful tool- supplying the market with cheep labour, no medical, no rights, and all the while the politicians playing bothsides of the political devide, while pandering to business labour markets.
February 14, 2008 at 9:51 pm
You’re right, Sean. Having been an immigrant most of my life, I though the article on the illness as an interesting one to share. Many thanks for your comment.
Talk to you soon, E
November 5, 2008 at 6:14 am
Ah, criminal having somekind of mental illness. No i dont feel pity.
She had no right to even go to other country, pick better examples.
November 10, 2008 at 11:22 am
Heres another example of a young woman living in terror and hiding:
http://www.iltasanomat.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/uutinen.asp?id=1614574
What syndrome do you call this? Multiculturalism syndrome?
February 10, 2009 at 7:42 pm
There is a lot of true to this story and a wonderful novel written about it by a countryman from Colombia named El Sindrome de Ulises or Ulysses Syndrome by Santiago Gamboa. It described the tales of himself and everyone he knew during a time of his life in Paris, France. A great story worth reading for anyone looking to understand the adventures and life of an inmmigrant.
February 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Hi/hola Al Prieto, many thanks for your comment on the Ulysses Syndrome. The problem with many of the “developed” countries is that they have no idea how many people from countries such as Colombia suffer in order to send money to their relatives. The Ulysses Syndrome explains this phenomenon very well.