Psychology of moving home

According to psychology, stress is classed as 'any event or situation that makes heightened demands on a person's mental or emotional resources' and moving house has that by the bucket load!

There are many reasons for moving home. Some positive reasons and some negative reasons. Both scenarios are a psychological cause of stress.

• Moving up the property ladder

Even when moving house is a wanted and happy event, there are still psychological factors that make it very stressful - the stress of selling, the stress of buying, the stress of estate agents, the stress of solicitors, the stress of cleaning and packing. Need I go on? From a psychology point of view moving house is just as stressful as the death of a loved one. 

• Job relocation

The psychological stress of leaving friends and family behind and saying lots of goodbye's can be heartbreaking, and it would be natural to go though a period of grief during this time.   Then there's the psychological stress of making new friends, new schools, a new social life. This is even more stressful if the new job is your partners and you don't really want to go. 

• A fresh start

The idea of starting a new life, making a fresh start, may be the psychological reason behind moving house. New house, new life, new me. But this could be a recipe for disaster, because no matter where you go you still take 'the old you' with you, and if you haven't done any 'work' on 'the old you' then chances are the old problems will just repeat themselves again.

• Financial

A financial crisis may be the reason for moving home. You may hate the move and everything about it, as psychologically, this is the concrete realisation that you've 'failed' financially. The actual house move may be the point at which the reality of the situation hits home. Combined with the fact that you're probably leaving your beautiful home and moving to a less desirable house.

• Divorce

Whether the divorce was amicable or not, the sale of the marital home is, psychologically, a very traumatic time. It signifies the point of no return in the marriage. And if there are children involved, the beginning of a life of sharing their time between two parents. 

• Bereavement

This can be psychologically one of the most difficult. The stress of moving added to the trauma of losing a loved one can be an extremely difficult time. Especially if the reason for the move is because the spouce did not leave behind adequate finances to pay off the mortgage.

• Illness

Illness or disability may be the reason for moving house. It may be impossible to carry on living alone. The psychology of  the realisation of losing independence and accepting old age can be very difficult to bear.

 So the psychological stress behind the reasons for moving home are many and varied. Which makes moving house a very stressful time for anybody.

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