Whether you have recently moved to the US for work or school or have come back from living overseas, there are challenges in adjusting to a new culture or returning to a culture you call your own. Having recently returned from a 3 month sabbatical, I have experienced both sides of navigating a different culture and returning to my home culture. I hope this post can help name these experiences for you and/or your friends/supports who are new to a culture or coming home.
According to articles from the US Department of State, culture shock is the actions and reactions felt when arriving to a new cultural experience. These can include positive feelings associated with the culture like excitement and novelty to more challenging experiences like homesickness, loneliness, disrupted appetite/sleep, sadness, resentment and wishing you could deal with things in your new cultural experience like your home culture. It isn’t uncommon to adjust to this experience with time and support in the new community. Reverse culture shock, similarly, is the diversity of feelings and experiences associated with returning to one’s home culture. This could include the joys/challenges of returning to familiar places, reconnecting with people and routines and/or adjusting to predictable patterns of interaction because they have likely changed in both endearing and uncomfortable or distressing fashions.
As this is a complex, nuanced topic, I believe starting this conversation here can be a great springboard for managing one’s mental health in this area. Here are a few ideas that can help apply to both culture shock and reverse culture shock - many of which have worked for me:
Step into your culture’s activities and experiences while experiencing the differences: whether you’re in a new culture or returning to your home culture, make time to try activities ro re-engage with familiar activities even if they are uncomfortable at first.
Keep an open-mind: new cultural experiences can be paradigm shifting and being flexible can make adjustment more manageable. When returning home, seeing differences between one culture and another can also be challenging. Remember open-mindedness can also mean exercising patience with one’s self.
Don’t isolate: regardless of where you’re coming from or going, find community/friends/meet-up groups as soon as possible. Emotional adjustment can be more easily handled with social support of various kinds.
Learn about your (host) culture: advance research about your host or home culture can help soften the stress of going somewhere new or returning home. The culture you’re going to or returning to may have new and unusual things to learn or changes may have occurred that can help be managed with a little advanced preparation.
Journal: a great place to store your experiences and reflections is journaling. It can be a great tool to cope, reality test or vent experiences of moving someplace new or returning to some place familiar.
When it’s all said and done, a new culture or a familiar culture that has changed can be a big adjustment to make emotionally and mentally. Talk about this experience with your therapist - they can help you frame or reframe your cultural experiences in a way that can make the host/home culture more manageable!
Lou Lim, LMHC, REAT is a licensed mental health counselor and registered expressive arts therapist (REAT) with a master's degree in Expressive Therapy and Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University. He is a member of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association and on the committee for REAT credentialing. He has 13 years of experience in counseling and expressive therapy working with children, adolescents, teenagers, adults, and retirees.
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