Culture Shock

Culture shock is a term commonly used to describe the surprising friction and difficulty involved when living and working in another culture.  Most people refer to culture shock when talking about expatriate experience, but it can also occur in one’s home culture when working closely with members of other cultures.

Culture shock can profoundly affect a person, especially when they are living in another country for an extended period of time.  Then the term “culture stress” becomes more appropriate.  Essentially, a person is trying to work and live without their regular cultural context and cues comfortably surrounding them, which leads to culture shock and stress.

Culture shock is not purely an emotional condition.  It can also affect a person physically and behaviorally.  Children are particularly vulnerable since they are not capable of identifying some of the abstract cultural behaviors provoking their culture shock.  Parents need to be aware of this and try to help their children identify and process their condition.

Symptoms of culture shock range from depression, chronic fatigue and substance abuse to low self-esteem and ineffective work patterns.  It is important to recognize these symptoms as a result of culture shock, as they can guide you back to the process of adaptation, which is what ultimately needs to occur to alleviate the symptoms and can be difficult to achieve without adequate training, coaching or mentoring.