#mental isolation

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Culture Shock, Part II

Earlier this week, I noticed some of the symptoms of culture shock in myself I had read about before coming to Senegal. At first I thought it must just be a bad day and ignored it, but after 3 straight "bad days", I started to wonder what was going on. 

Like most people, I had been informed of 4 stages of culture shock: Honeymoon, Shock, Adjustment, Re-entry shock. 

Since I had been feeling very much like I was in the "shock" phase again, I was confused- I thought I had already gone through that weeks ago, especially because I had been enjoying the "adjustment" phase for over a month! 

So, I decided to do a little googling. I figured that I would be able to stumble upon some guide to give me tips on how to handle what I thought was a kind of shock relapse. 

Little did I know, there was a whole phase of culture shock I was completely missing, and guess what? I"M IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT PHASE! 

The phase is called "mental isolation". When I read different descriptions about it over the course of my googling, I realized how completely they all describe my situation. It's actually very eery. Anyways, I found a lot of great descriptions, but here is the one I decided is the best, from https://www3.imsa.edu/system/files/The+W-CURVE.pdf

STAGE 4: MENTAL ISOLATION

Even though the student feels more comfortable with the physical environment, new issues begin to emerge. The student may begin to think, "It's hard to get to know people here", "No one else feels the way I do", and "I'm all alone." A feeling of isolation is then experienced.

This is a critical stage for most students because a "crisis of confidence" may occur due to an actual or perceived notion of intellectual inferiority. This is then experienced as a loss of status: "Things don't come as easy as they used to"; "I don't know if I can keep up"; “Maybe I'm not as smart as I thought I was". An interruption in sleep and eating patterns may begin to manifest themselves due to increased levels of stress.

Let me tell you, it was a HUGE relief to find out that my feelings were normal. I'm not crazy- i'm just in "mental isolation". Ok, well, I might be crazy... but I have an excuse for it now! 

but in all seriousness- I felt that this was a very important blog post to make because, like my earlier post about study abroad not being all "roses and daisies", I firmly believe that it is important to let people know about the hard times as well as the good.  But more than that, before today I didn't even know this phase i'm in existed. Knowing about it beforehand certainly would have made me react differently, as having full and complete information often does. But now I do know and can handle myself accordingly. However, if I didn't know about this phase, I bet you there are a lot of study abroad students out there experiencing this and just thinking they are crazy. You are not crazy! You are just in "mental isolation" with me! (this may be a comforting or terrifying thought. I am a pretty crazy person to be in a stage with.... but it will be entertaining! We shall have fun!)

So, I don't know what kind of pre-study-abroad/ current-study-abroad readership I've got out there, but I figure it's worth it to get the word out anyways.