Managing Life Overseas: Limiting Honeymoon overstimulation

In the blog last week, we explored an overview of the U-Curve process of cultural adaptation when living overseas for extended periods by briefly reviewing the four key phases known respectively as the Honeymoon, Shock, Recovery, and Mastery. This week, we will take a closer look at the initial Honeymoon period focusing specifically on the potential threat arising from overstimulation that can lead to the debilitating experience of sensory overload.

The Honeymoon phase and exposure to overstimulation

With brief reference back to the blog last week, for those encountering a new national context, the honeymoon phase is typically an exhilarating experience, during which the vast majority of sojourners are typically enthralled by the new surroundings, especially the people, dress codes, sounds, sites, smells, language, bustling streets, and the rituals of interpersonal encounters such as greetings.

This almost hypnotic initial immersion in the culture is typically positive throughout the period of the short stay visitor. However, the risk for those planning to live for an extended period is that overexposure in an initial ‘tourist delusion’ instead of immediately setting up home can trigger overstimulation leading to highly debilitating and disorientating sensory overload. This in turn can expose the sojourner to further disruptive experiences broadly related to culture shock with heightened intensity due to an already weakened emotional state of mind.

What is overstimulation and sensory overload

First, though closely related, it is important to clarify the concepts of overstimulation and sensory overload. Overstimulation arises from the reception of sudden unfamiliar and frequently unanticipated information bombarding the senses, while sensory overload occurs when the information is simply so overwhelming that the brain can no longer fulfil its primary function as an effective filter.

Put simply, the nervous system functions as our central control and command system constantly processing information enabling an effective response to our surroundings while influencing everything from physical sensations to emotional states. However, overstimulation can disrupt the everyday functioning of the nervous system together with the natural regulation of what is otherwise a typically balanced alignment with the external environment.

The seriousness of the sensory overload threat

The potential seriousness of sensory overload is highlighted in the way it can affect the sojourner at one or more of three levels.

First, at the most immediately visible level, physical symptoms include some combination of headaches, nausea, sweating, dizziness, sleeplessness, and a sense of almost constant lethargy.

Then, emotional manifestations are increased irritability, anxiety, sudden tearfulness, annoyance with others, touchiness, and abrupt often inexplicable mood swings.

Finally, in relation to cognitive functions, the common symptoms include moments of confusion and sudden disorientation, weakening attention spans, poor decision-making, and a general loss of interest often worryingly reflected in limited focus on even otherwise essential routine tasks.

To conclude, once again, it is important to stress that no two people, even those from a shared cultural background, ever interpret what might appear in otherwise similar cross-cultural experiences in anything approaching the same way. This is due to several factors that are ultimately explicable in relation to a subtle intertwining of complex individual variations in personality as illustrated by the five key factors of expressive openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness. We shall explore the influence of personality on the ability to live successfully overseas for extended periods in a future blog using what is called the Five Factor Model of Personality.

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Question 1

What might be some of the positives to be learnt from the honeymoon phase?

Question 2

Is it ever possible to prepare ourselves more effectively for the arrival of the unknown unknowns? surprises

Question 3

To what extent is the experience of culture shock inevitable?

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We shall explore Question 3 in the next blog.