Cultural Differences Between Mental Illness And Western Culture

Mental illness is a psychological disorder that has rare a behavior that causes impairment to the individual. These mental illnesses vary through culture, and diversity. Some mental illness is more prevalent in other cultures, such as bulimia nervosa being only relevant in Western culture, hikikomori in Japanese culture, or dhat in South Asian cultures (Heine, "Mental Health", 2012). These culture-bound syndromes are highly influenced by their own cultural values, and is not seen to be influenced by outside cultures. Studies have suggested that Asian Americans have a greater stigma on mental illnesses compared to Western Americans (Cheon & Chiao, 2012). Depending on the culture, it shapes how individuals view and respond to others with a mental
illness.
Living in the US as an Asian American can be difficult when a conflict in culture between the first generation Asian American, and the immigrant parents who moved to the US. These beliefs in cultures clash and change because the experiences of culture shock for the first six to eight months (Heine, "Mental Health", 2012). For the Asian American, there are many differences in Asian cultures that may have a different idea of what their stigma is (Cheon & Chiao, 2012). Most Asian cultures do not share the same stigma, because their specific ideology may not be as meaningful in their culture than others (Heine, "Mental Health", 2012).
The stigma of mental health for Asian Americans is a taboo subject because their culture is very subjective to the idea of a person having a mental problem unless they are weak-willed. Physical symptoms are the norm, and mental illness is rarely thought to be a real problem. What is concerning about the stigma of mental health, is that those with mental illnesses are negatively impacted because no one in the family is willing to acknowledge it (Abdullah & Brown, 2011).
According to Abdullah & Brown (2011), there are two types of mental illness stigma: public stigma, and self-stigma. Public stigma is the public’s response or negative judgement of people with mental illnesses (Abdullah & Brown, 2011). This public stigma not only affects the person, but affects family and friends that care. It can also ruin opportunities in getting a job or housing because of discrimination or prejudgments. Self-stigma is the internalization of public stigma concerning mental illnesses (Abdullah & Brown, 2011). This self-stigma makes a person feel shame and have low self-esteem, which results to negative thoughts and ideas of their own self. People with a mental illness could believe that they are less appreciated, and feel they have negative interactions with others because of their mental illness, and this could put them into a pit of depression and that can create a more difficult social life (Abdullah & Brown, 2011).
The Asian culture tend to deal with mental illnesses differently than Western culture. According to Wong (2010), Asian cultures believe that having a mental illness is a shameful, and a personal failure to him or herself and the family. The culture believes it is a sign of weakness and is thought to bring disappointment to the family, so it may lead to having to save “face”. Saving face hurts the individual because it prevents them from receiving the help they need, and may cause more psychological problems (Wong et al., 2010). Comparatively, Asian Americans perceive greater barriers when seeking help, because a study reports a greater stigma in looking for professional help than White Americans (Kim & Zane, 2016). These findings correlate that public and self-stigma of Asian values have influences on the person’s willingness to seek help for themselves (Kim & Zane, 2016).
In a study with White American participants about “stigmas being a major barrier in obtaining information about mental health problems to recognizing the existence of those problems”, found that 32% of those participants recognized they had a mental health problem, but still fail to recognize that they need or want to seek help because of the stigma (Abdullah & Brown, 2011). Another study also show that 68% of Americans (without a mental illness) that were surveyed felt that they are unwilling to have a person with a mental illness marry into the family, and 58% would not want to closely work with them or spend time socializing with them (Abdullah & Brown, 2011). It should be emphasized that if an individual’s experience of a mental illness differs across many cultures, then it should be expected that the treatment of those mental illnesses would differ as well (Heine, "Mental Health", 2012).
There is a lot of cultural diversity in all kinds of mental illnesses, so finding a suitable therapist with the same cultural background could significantly help become a more successful treatment. It could help patients suffering from mental illness be able to express their concerns and views better when they share the same language and culture (Heine, "Mental Health", 2012). Without any language and culture barriers, this could effectively help patients and keep them in therapy longer because it provides a safe place, better understanding and help improve
morale. Not only is support in therapy crucial, familial and peer support plays an importance in a person’s therapy.
Support shows an association with physical health benefits, even across cultures, but people seek social support differently (Heine, "Mental Health", 2012). Just like Can from the documentary, he lacked support he needed from his family, so he sought support in other aspects of this life, in other people with similar mental illnesses to help him cope with his life. The lack of support from Can’s family increased more hardships for him and created a deal of more stress and frustration, which made it harder to accept and cope with his feelings. Can was lucky enough to find that outlet of connections to vent and cope with his problems, and even help others with similar issues. Huang (2011) expresses that a patient could very easily use cultural or religious teachings as an excuse for not taking initiative in seeking help, which reinforces even more of their problems. The belief of dealing with mental illness is that “there is no point in trying, that’s just the way it is, there’s nothing I can do about it…. ‘‘life is suffering’’’ (Hwang, 2011). I believe this is perfect example of Asian culture belief, because Can experiences it, I experience it, and so does every other Asian person I know experiences some part of this
belief. I chose mental illness and decided to go more into the stigma in Asians, and Asian Americans, because that is part of who I am. While watching the video of Can and the way his family reacts towards mental illness really hits home. My family did not come from a boat, and I did not have to experience anything (that I don’t think) was very traumatic, but my parents did work very hard to earn their way into America; and sometimes they express how lucky and at times say how “ungrateful” I am to be living here. Part of the reason this cuts me deep is that (in my family) we don’t talk about feelings either. Even though I respect my parents, I cannot say “I love you” to them. It was only when my fiancé noticed that I never said it when getting off the phone with my parents, and told me I should say it more so I wouldn’t always be on their bad side. I did start saying it more, and my parents thought it was weird. After years saying “I love you” now in my young adulthood, my mother enjoys hearing it, I still don’t feel it. In my own self-diagnosis, I probably have ADD, anxiety, and depression, but the way I grew up was to deal with my issues and to basically “suck it up”, just like Can in the documentary. I don’t seek help because my family would think that I am not trying hard enough to help myself, like they have helped themselves. Just like Can’s father, if I take care of myself, then I wouldn’t have these problems with my mental health. I don’t ever complain about my hardships regarding any problem, but if I ever did, they are typically returned with responses such as, “I had the same problem too when I was in school, you just need to concentrate and study more”, or “you don’t focus on your school as much as we did, that is why you don’t do well”. I am not blaming them for believing these things, and sometimes I do partially feel it is my fault, but then again, I wish they would understand that sometimes people need the help, because everyone is different. Being the first generation in America, I grew up in a differently in this country, and different culture from them, which makes it harder to relate to them about the stigma of mental illness.