Failed Urban Migration and Psychosomatic Numbing: Cortisol, Unfulfilled Lifestyle Aspirations and Depression in Botswana

Abstract

The impact of globalization on individual well-being through the interplay of self and standard forms of lifestyle aspirations, has generally received less attention than the merits of globalization at the macro-level. This chapter addresses this question by testing the hypothesis that poor rural-dwelling Botswana men suffer diminished well-being compared to their relatively well-off urban-dwelling counterparts as a result of unfulfilled lifestyle aspirations. The study combines ethnographic, psychological, and psychosomatic data to compare well-being among rural and urban adult Botswana men. Results indicate that failed urban migration associates with low cortisol and high depressive affect, and rural residence is also independently associated with high depressive affect. This psychosomatic syndrome may be similar to that observed in posttraumatic stress disorder, suggesting that the experience of failed urban migration is considerably more stressful than the demands of employed urban life in contemporary Botswana.

Citation

Decker, S. (2007), "Failed Urban Migration and Psychosomatic Numbing: Cortisol, Unfulfilled Lifestyle Aspirations and Depression in Botswana", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) The Economics of Health and Wellness: Anthropological Perspectives (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 26), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 75-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-1281(07)26004-4