Living abroad: being an expatriates — stress management
When you go to live abroad, you will be subject to many tensions in your life and in your work. With proper preparation, you can anticipate certain problems. Learn to recognize the symptoms of stress and the behaviors to adopt to fight it. Severe stress, which goes unrecognized, leads to reduced performance and exhaustion that can jeopardize your mission. As an expatriate, humanitarian delegate or accompanying family, you are directly concerned.
Stress
Stress is part of the normal reactions of a person in a new environment. At first it has positive effects such as improving concentration, helping to achieve a goal and overcome hardships. It is beneficial "in small doses" and for a limited period of time. However, beyond a certain duration and the personal limits of the individual, stress generates negative reactions which can have serious consequences. We then speak of "stress exceeded".
Adjustment difficulties and stress
Arriving in a foreign world, with linguistic and cultural barriers, will require a great capacity for adaptation. The inconvenience caused by the climate, food, isolation, and difficult living and working conditions, are all factors that contribute to a "basic stress" that you will surely undergo during the first weeks there. If you recognize your difficulties, talk to your colleagues and loved ones, and be patient and open-minded, you will more easily manage to adapt to your new environment and this stress should decrease quickly. Try not to judge cultural differences negatively, but to simply “observe” them.
It can be harmful
The risk is especially great if you are overwhelmed by your work with insufficient periods of leisure and rest. You can also experience cumulative stress through prolonged and repeated exposure to stressors (insecurity, hard work, dealing with the suffering of victims, confinement, difficult hygienic conditions, etc.). The risk of exhaustion after a few months is real. Additionally, in the face of the urgency and distress you are facing, you can downplay your personal health issues that you feel are insignificant.
Traumatic stress
It occurs after a violent and unpredictable event that puts your life or that of another person in danger and directly confronts you with death. The risk of exposure increases in war, insecurity and natural disaster, but can occur anywhere as a result of a crime or accident. This experience requires immediate support (“debriefing”, talking about the event with colleagues). We speak of post-traumatic syndrome when the following symptoms of stress persist for more than a month: feelings of guilt and anger, nightmares and sleep disturbances, reliving the traumatic event and "flashbacks", concentration disturbances , anxiety, change of character, avoidance, self-destructive behavior. Post-traumatic stress requires psychological follow-up.
Symptoms of overwhelmed stress
Overcome stress must be recognized and addressed, before it leads to an overuse crisis. Here are some symptoms to take seriously.
Concentration disorders
Exaggerated irritability
Feeling of intense frustration with work and with colleagues
Loss of pleasure in what you liked to do (at work or in life)
Fatigue, physical and emotional exhaustion
Change in attitude towards victims, colleagues and your work: cynical or bitter attitude, you make inappropriate jokes, loss of compassion
Psychosomatic manifestations: headaches, back pain, digestive disorders
Depressive state: sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, sadness, dark thoughts, loss of appetite, etc. Risk behaviors: consumption of alcohol / drugs / medication / stimulants; unprotected sex; dangerous driving.
Prevention and treatment of stress
Remember that your physical and mental health is important to you but also to your team / family / employer. Take care of it. Accept the rule that if you want to take care of others, you have to worry about yourself first. You are not responsible for all the causes of your stress, but you can organize your life to deal with it. Here are a few tips:
Get enough sleep, eat regularly, practice regular physical training
Plan time for rest, leisure, sports and social / family life in your diary despite feeling like you have too much work.
Have a life outside of your mission / project and take advantage of your breaks to discover the local culture and the host country Force yourself to leave the office at fixed and reasonable times
Know your limits and set realistic goals especially early on
Talk to those around you and your colleagues about your daily difficulties
Keep in touch with those close to you who have stayed in your home country (phone, email, etc.) even in the event of a time difference Reduce your consumption of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, bad stress remedies
Recommendations from SAFETRAVEL
Stress is part of expatriate life and is inherent in humanitarian action. To maintain good physical and mental health, you will need to learn how to manage it. Make time for the 3 Rs: rest, meals, relationships and for physical training. Ask for help if these steps are not enough or if you feel overwhelmed. Any depressive symptom should be taken very seriously. Do not hesitate to contact a doctor.
