While many people are used to hearing about people experiencing culture shock while travelling abroad, many others are unaware of reverse culture shock. Not only can one experience culture shock, but one can also experience reverse culture shock when returning home. You should be aware of the distinctions between these two terms as you prepare for your studies abroad. As always, we not only guide you through the study abroad process, but we also show you how to easily adapt to your new environment.

Culture shock is the personal disorientation that a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply transition to a different type of life. One of the most common causes of culture shock is individuals in a foreign environment. There are four distinct stages of culture shock: honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation.

Culture shock affects students who participate in study abroad programmes. In-country support for students may help them overcome the challenges and phases of culture shock, according to research on study abroad experiences. According to Young et al., culture shock's distress has long-term consequences. As a result, universities with well-rounded programmes that support students throughout the study abroad programme, including preparation and post-program assistance, can reduce culture shock, allow for global development, and aid in the transition back to the home culture.

Reverse Culture Shock

Idealization and expectations are two components of reverse culture shock. When we spend an extended period of time abroad, we focus on the good parts of our past, ignore the bad, and create an idealized version of the past. Second, when we are removed from our familiar environment and placed in a foreign one, we incorrectly assume that nothing has changed. We anticipate that everything will remain exactly as it was when we left it. The realisation that life back home has changed, that the world has gone on without us, and the process of readjusting to these new conditions, as well as actualizing our new perceptions of the world with our old way of life, causes discomfort and psychological anguish.

Culture shock is a subcategory of the more general concept of transition shock. A state of loss and disorientation caused by a change in one's familiar environment that necessitates adjustment is referred to as transition shock. Transition shock manifests itself in a variety of ways, including:

Anger\sBoredom

Obsessive eating, drinking, and weight gain

A yearning for home and old friends

Excessive cleanliness concern 

Excessive sleep

Feelings of helplessness and withdrawal

Getting stuck  on a single topic

Glazed expression

Homesickness

Intolerance of host nationals

Impulsivity

Irritability

Swings in mood

Physiological responses to stress

Host national stereotypes

Suicidal or fatalistic ideas

Withdrawal