cross-cultural adjustment
“A full migrant suffers, traditionally, a triple disruption: he loses his place, he enters into an alien language, and he finds himself surrounded by beings whose social behavior and code is very unlike, and sometimes even offensive to, his own. And this is what makes migrants such important figures: because roots, language, and social norms have been three of the most important parts of the definition of what it means to be a human being. The migrant, denied all three, is obliged to find new ways of describing himself, new ways of being human.”
Salman RushdieIf you’re a migrant or in other ways multicultural—part of an ethnic minority, an international student, expat, digital nomad, humanitarian worker, or diplomat—you’re likely familiar with the joys and challenges that come with this experience.
Living across cultures often means holding contradictions: feeling both at home and out of place, eager to communicate and at a loss of words, enriched by new experiences and stripped of familiar ways of being. When cross-cultural transitions are involuntary, or shaped by social and political turmoil, they can additionally come with conflicting senses of relief and guilt, or gratitude and shame.
If this is your case, psychotherapy can provide you a safe and flexible space to explore this complexity, make sense of unsettling or confusing experiences, and reweave a fuller sense of self.
No matter how uprooted or misplaced you might feel, you can find your footing. You can bridge your different parts and experiences, and come to feel greater wholeness, stability, and connection.
To discover if this is something we can work towards together…