Culture Shock and Depression

 Culture shock is the term used to explain the anxiety and stress reactions that some people experience when they live in a cultural environment that is significantly different from their own . Our identities are rooted in our home culture and when we leave , we also leave the roots that support and nourish our personalities . This could lead to anxiety . The specific symptoms that emerge from the stress and anxiety of culture shock include depression and withdrawal .

  When living in overseas in a place where the people speak a different language it can be difficult to make yourself understood even in relatively simple but important areas of life such as shopping and getting around town . Having a language handicap can also mean facing the difficulty of making new friends . People living and studying overseas also need to learn to deal with food , moral values , religious differences on their own . Anyone with a weaker sense of being would then be highly susceptible to depression .

  And the list of potential causes of culture could go on . A productive exercise for someone living and working abroad is to regularly explore differences between their own culture and that of their hosts in order to bring these areas of cultural conflict more into the open where they can be acknowledge and more objectively and analyzed and dealt with .

  Depressive thoughts resulting from culture shock can be prevented by striving to become more culturally flexible in your thinking and behavior ,by developing a real enthusiasm for learning about the host culture and by forming real interculture relationships. With the correct attitude , a few new good friends , a person will quite naturally to understand and interact more , they will feel more at ease with themselves  and their surrounding . They will become more happy and productive at studies , at home or while moving about within the society at large . They will no longer be affected by the uncertainties . They will understand more and be understood more by others . Hence , negativity is reduced and a person will be able to rise from their depression.