INVESTIGATION – As enriching as it is, life abroad remains a diverse challenge, both professionally, socially, family-wise… but also psychologically. How do you react when you lose your footing thousands of miles from home?
“If I have to go back to the first symptoms, I'm going to make everyone very uncomfortable by talking about constipation,” recalls half-embarrassed, half-amused Rebecca, who experienced a ten-month depressive episode in Seattle after two years abroad. United States. “It was an insidious stress. Little by little my body went crazy and I couldn't go to the toilet anymore. I was ashamed to somatize so much, so I didn't tell anyone because I thought it would go away. Two months later my husband took me to the emergency room… Result: They had to operate on an intestinal obstruction and as a bonus I was diagnosed with depression…”.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur still doesn't understand how she could ignore these spreading symptoms. “On paper I had a very nice life, I had even just started working again after managing the installation of our little family. However, a feeling of permanent oppression sets in…
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