PTSD: A Cultural Analysis

People of all cultures have been exposed to traumas, and so in theory every culture should experience PTSD at some time. Most PTSD cases are with military veterans, or are people who have generally lived through an extremely traumatic event. However, while people of every culture has probably experienced the symptoms in some way at one time or another, they might not have known what it was, considered it a disease, or known it to be PTSD like we do today. In light of past historical events, people have been exposed to PTSD due to the wars that plague our entire country. Japanese, American Indians, Hispanics, Asians, Chinese, American, and Filipino cultures have all had cases of this disease but all deal with it in a slightly different way (“Cultural
Considerations”, 2016). Refugees and immigrants of varying cultures also have experienced PTSD due to the tumultuous horrific environment they experienced that caused their fleeing the country. In terms of American veterans with PTSD “the problem is at first denied, then exaggerated, then understood, and finally, forgotten” (Morris, 2013). Many soldiers, or anyone really, feel shame in admitting they need help and avoid the problem until something happens they can’t ignore anymore. Unfortunately, in society many mental illness are just sort of brushed off and not recognized as the serious problems they are. Most cultures and people deal with PTSD, or any mental illness really, in a hush-hush, private manner for fear of judgement and stigma associated with such mental illnesses. Even if the behavior is normal in a culture, it is still a mental disorder it is just more common but each individual person has different reasoning behind the symptoms. Sharing experiences and symptoms helps people not feel as judged or isolated and could help them seek treatment for their mental illness issues.
The DSM-5 lists 8 different diagnostic criteria for PTSD: stressor, intrusion symptoms, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, alterations in arousal and reactivity, duration, functional significance and exclusion (“DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD”, 2015).
Many different types of traumatic events fall under these criterion groups, so there are many reasons for a person to experience this illness. The required criterions listed can be experienced by a person of any culture. The type of traumatic event that caused the symptoms of the disease may differ between cultures, some having more of these experiences than others, which is not addressed in DSM-5. Some cultures may be strongly influenced by certain criteria and may have more cases caused by a certain category of critical experience than others. While cultural background may affect the amount or type of traumatic stressful experience that was witnessed, the symptoms and criterion are mainly the same: trauma. PTSD is often not admitted to due to fear of society’s judgement and breaking away from the norms, which is a big problem. So, due to the fact that people afflicted with this disorder fear their cultures opinion on them due to it, or view the disease itself differently due to culture, PTSD is as much of a culturally determined issue as a medical
one. Each and every person in the world has a different background, which changes and influences a person’s opinions, the type of person they are, and how they see the world. After all, they say you are the sum of your experiences. Being from different cultural backgrounds only increases the uniqueness and differences in the way a person sees the world because they are influenced by their culture’s/society’s beliefs and practices. Cultures have different views on diseases, especially in terms of causation, treatment, and whether the category of symptoms is a disease or not. Different cultures also categorize symptoms differently, so the name of a disease could be different across cultures, even though the symptoms of the disease.
There has been a lot of research into how cultural background or ethnicity affects the PTSD experience.
Ethnic minority populations, specifically those who are veterans, have a higher rate of PTSD compared to white veterans (Loo, 2016). African American veterans were found to have higher exposure to war stresses which accounted for their higher rate of PTSD. This increase of exposure to war stress also caused the higher rates of PTSD in Hispanics than whites. The psychological conflict that comes with war also has a major effect. A person of a different culture may already have a degree of fear and judgement due to not fitting society’s norms because of their culture, traditions or appearance alone. Furthermore, in times of war, military men and woman of varying cultures may have higher mental health effects due to trauma because they may relate to the enemy in terms of looks or similar cultural experiences which are both psychological
conflicts.