Types of Culture Shock
- Culture Surprise: Sometimes called the "honeymoon" phase of adjustment, this often occurs early on when in a new culture, when you become aware of surprising cultural differences.
- Culture Stress: This is often due to stimulus overload. When in a new country and surrounded by a lots of new sights, smells, sounds, and more, it can put a lot of stress on the sensory processors in the brain. This can cause fatigue and annoyance.
- Culture Irritation: This is irritation caused by specific cultural behaviors that may become pet peeves and illicit a strong reaction (e.g. public displays of affection, drunkenness, hygiene, etc).
- Culture Fatigue: Similar to culture stress, but over a longer period of time. Without a break to allow your brain to process the new information, symptoms of fatigue and irritation can intensify. Also related to language fatigue, where you become physically and mentally exhausted from using a new language in its natural environment.
- Culture Shock: "The natural contradiction between our accustomed patterns of behavior and the psychological conflict of attempting to maintain them in the new cultural environment." (1)
(1) https://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/pub/1.6.1-_Common_Reactions.htm
Symptoms of Culture Shock (2)
- Fatigue, which can appear as lethargy, sleeping too much, feeling overwhelmed by small problems, wanting to relax at home instead of going out.
- Hyperirritability, which can look like an inappropriate explosion of anger at small slights, blaming the new culture for negative feelings, and assuming the worst intentions from innocent interactions.
- Depression, which can manifest as loneliness, feeling lost, helpless, or vulnerable, lacking motivation, feeling a sense of lost identity, unable to complete tasks.
- Anxiety, which can include a sense of dread, excessive fear, inordinate concern for your health or safety, doubting your ability to enjoy the new experience.
- Feeling Sick, with symptoms such as being "off," aches and pains, insomnia, and resurgence of chronic health issues.
- Negative Feelings Towards the Host Culture, which can look like withdrawing from local culture (such as finding food from your culture, or places with people from your culture), criticizing the local culture, daydreaming about being somewhere else, and stereotyping.
- Self-Doubt, which can manifest as questioning your decision to come here, feeling shy, having an existential crisis, imposter syndrome, or feeling unable to overcome adversity.
(2) https://www.internationalrelationsedu.org/the-7-symptoms-of-culture-shock-indentifying-them-and-getting-ahead-of-the-problem/
How to Get Over Culture Shock (3)
- Admit you are dealing with culture shock and that it's not a weakness.
- Learn the behavioral rules of the culture.
- Get involved in the culture via art, music, food or more.
- Practice the language outside of class via tutoring, ESL, or other group activities.
- Take care of yourself (see stress relief tab for some ideas)
- Be a tourist! Do some sight-seeing and explore some of the beautiful parts of the local scene.
- Make friends. Talk to your classmates or invite them out to eat. Ask for advice for local attractions and ask questions about life here.
- Maintain contact with friends and family. Do a weekly skype call or message them regularly and talk about your experiences. Keep a journal of experiences you want to share with them.
- Do something that reminds you of home. Listen to some of your favorite music, eat food from your home culture, or exercise in ways you would back home.
- Don't rely on memories of home. By idealizing your home, you will not only not be able to enjoy life here, but you will also probably be disappointed when you return home and it isn't what you were idealizing.
(3) https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/living-abroad/culture-shock
