Mental Illnesses In Western Cultures

In Western culture, comparisons are constructed in an almost natural manner as a way for people to form an understanding of foreign ideas and concepts. The diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses across the world vary from that of Western Culture; thus, it becomes difficult to define the nature of a disorder as it pertains to each individual culture. There is a tendency of miscommunication of the language as well as a variance in the causations of the disorders that create a cultural barrier. In order to compare mental illnesses and determine the most efficient psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, the relationship between the social environment and the genetic contributions must be analyzed.
The comparison of mental illnesses allows for different cultures to …show more content…
In a social context, psychiatric disorders are identified through the analysis of what is not considered “normal” behavior. Therefore, the salience of symptoms will ultimately vary in different cultures (Brown, 210, p.225). With depression, it is considered “normal” for patients in the West to suffer the illness due to lack of respected social status or due to feelings of incompleteness; on the contrary, American Indians, due to a social tolerance, are accustomed to the symptoms that Americans diagnosis as associated with severe depression such as prolonged mourning (Brown, 2010, p.227). The expression of emotions also contributes to the differences in the definition of normal behavior across cultures. In Japanese societies, the cause of what the Western culture identifies as social phobia is due to the fear of embarrassing or creating a discomfort for others (Brown, 2010, p.230); consequently, this makes the patients more prone to other symptoms