reverse culture shock
Homecoming adjustment syndrome
Reverse culture shock is the disorientation people experience when returning to their home country after an extended time abroad.
Unlike regular culture shock, which occurs when adjusting to a foreign place, reverse culture shock catches people off guard because they expect home to feel familiar.
Returnees often find that both they and their home environment have changed, making reintegration unexpectedly difficult.
After two years in Japan, the reverse culture shock of moving back to Ohio was harder than leaving had been.
Modifying something again
- reacclimatizationAdjusting again to environment
- reintegrationRestoration to a group
- reassimilationAbsorbing back into whole
- reentryComing back in
reorientation · resocialization · acculturation · transition · normalization · relearning · coping · adjustment period
Go back again
- repatriationFormal return to homeland
- reunionGathering after separation
- reconnectionRestoring a broken link
- familiarityKnowledge through experience
rediscovery · roots · reestablishment · resettlement · family · homeland · reentry · home leave
State of being baffled
- confusionMental disorientation or bewilderment
- disconnectionState of being severed
- unfamiliarityLack of prior knowledge
- displacementRemoval from usual location
disconcertment · perplexity · disillusionment · cognitive dissonance · identity crisis · value conflict · alienation · anomie
Longing for one's dwelling
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- hiraethBittersweet ache for lost home
reminiscence · memory · sentimentality · idealization · romanticizing · grieving · loss · bittersweet
Emotional separation between people
- isolationComplete separation from others
- detachmentSeparation or emotional uninvolvement
- outsiderOne excluded from group
- misfitOne who doesn't fit in
exclusion · loneliness · marginalization · belonging nowhere · invisibility · misunderstanding · communication gap · social distance
readjustment
Modifying something again
- reacclimatizationAdjusting again to environment
- reintegrationRestoration to a group
- reassimilationAbsorbing back into whole
reentry · reorientation · resocialization · acculturation · transition · normalization · relearning · coping · adjustment period · decompression
return
Go back again
- repatriationFormal return to homeland
- reunionGathering after separation
- reconnectionRestoring a broken link
familiarity · rediscovery · roots · reestablishment · resettlement · family · homeland · reentry · home leave
bewilderment
State of being baffled
- confusionMental disorientation or bewilderment
- disconnectionState of being severed
- unfamiliarityLack of prior knowledge
displacement · disconcertment · perplexity · disillusionment · cognitive dissonance · identity crisis · value conflict · alienation · anomie · foreignness
homesickness
Longing for one's dwelling
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
hiraeth · reminiscence · memory · sentimentality · idealization · romanticizing · grieving · loss · bittersweet
estrangement
Emotional separation between people
- isolationComplete separation from others
- detachmentSeparation or emotional uninvolvement
- outsiderOne excluded from group
misfit · exclusion · loneliness · marginalization · belonging nowhere · invisibility · misunderstanding · communication gap · social distance · relationship strain
- global experiencesstudy abroad, exchange student, travel abroad, volunteer abroad, exchange program
- culture shockdisorientation, homesickness, adjustment period, acculturation, frustration
- expatsexpats, expat communities, relocation, foreign workers, trailing spouses
- life adjustmentsempty nest syndrome, homesickness, separation anxiety, bereavement, midlife crisis
- expatexpat, expat community, expat bubble, relocation, overseas posting
- expat lifeexpat communities, repatriation, host country, home country, trailing spouses
reverse culture shockculture shock
Disorientation from unfamiliar ways
reverse, reversed, reversal, reversing, reversible, irreversible, reversion, culture, cultures