Culture controls how abnormal mental behavior or mental disorders are perceived and dealt with. For instance, it has recently been discovered that non-industrial societies view mental disorder differently compared to western cultures. According to Mike Colagrossi (2018), various behaviors that are abnormal are considered to be mental disorders by western cultures which need urgent treatment. On the other hand, these same abnormal behaviors are perceived in a much positive and different light in primitive, non-developed cultures.
Ideas such as hallucinations, hearing voices, and other unusual behaviors are perceived as the beginning of a mystical awakening. Several people from these non-industrial communities turn out to be shamans and spiritual leaders of their communities. It is believed that these ecstatic creators, shamans, notable artists and those fringe thinkers that have traveled to the heart and soul of universal spirituality and survived to narrate the story of the beautiful mystery are not going to muddle with specific reductionist researcher’s opinion of mental disorder. According to psychologists in Britain, feeling paranoid and hearing voices are ordinary experiences that may frequently be a reaction to deprivation, abuse, or trauma (Colagrossi, 2018). They refer to these experiences as indicators of psychosis, mental illness, or schizophrenia.
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Other cultures are not very terrified by the prospect of psychosis or even certified madness. They deal with these disorders differently, and in particular traditional communities when one is considered to reveal ‘schizophrenic’ behaviors, they are immediately set aside away from the pack and placed under the tutelage and care of master witchdoctors. They are told that they are unique and that their abilities are quite dominant to the health of the community. They are also encouraged that they will cure, prophesy, and guide the community in its major vital decisions.
Compared to the traditional society, the Western culture tells the person showing any schizophrenic activity that they do not fit in the community, they are becoming a burden or a problem to their families and the society as well. They are also accused of not being responsible enough to deal with their problems and that they are equally worthy compared to other ‘normal’ people (Colagrossi, 2018). Individuals with schizophrenic behaviors in Western societies are advised to go to hospitals because they are ‘sick’ or have to be locked up. They are placed on the same level as lost dogs and prisoners in society and make schizophrenia seem as if it is an incurable disease.
The book ‘Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding’ synthesizes the latest understanding of treatment and etiology of the major significant psychological disorders. It also assists one to reflect on controversial and crucial issues such as the conceptions and the definition of the term psychopathology (Maddux and Winstead, 2015). Most importantly, the book has topics which discuss the roles that culture plays in psychopathology, for instance, ‘Classification and Diagnosis: Historical Development and Contemporary Issues.’
The topic focuses on the dysfunctional, maladaptive, abnormal thinking, behavior, and feelings. It relates to significant concerns to several professions, whose members embrace an equally varied collection of beliefs concerning pathology, etiology, and intervention. The topic emphasizes how cultural perspective plays a vital role in treating and understanding psychopathology (Maddux and Winstead, 2015). It shows how in a globalized universe, it is presently generally acknowledged that it is the cultural context of a particular community which describes maladjustment or stability of human behavior, which includes how people usually feel, act, think, and connects in social interactions. The specific theme also molds the onset of distress, as well as the forms and range of its expressiveness which are adaptive and acceptable. Also, it displays how psychopathology has abandoned to talk about cultural diversity throughout most of its history and how health sciences have simply branded cognitions, behaviors, social and emotional operations as psychopathological for their deviation from social customs commonly expressed in a Eurocentric, Western perspective. A model of this perception is placed on the tradition of abnormal or deviant psychology in the literature which tries to control and understand behavior considered to be deviant or aberrant from a functional, statistical, or ethical standard.
The topic concludes its discussion stating that mental suffering entails an understanding of a multi-dimensional, complicated procedure of biopsychosocial variables that are culturally set. It also states that most interventions or treatments in the face of psychopathology involve the acknowledgment of their ancient roots in particular cultural views since culture affects psychotherapy patterns as well.
According to Maddux and Winstead (2015), culture is the beliefs, practices, and values that belong to a given ethnocultural society. Just as explained from the events above, it is also evident that culture is the arbitrator of an individual’s conscious reality. Culture has a significant impact on the way people act and think. For individuals with a contented or non-inquisitive mind, it may set them into the absurd doldrums of fashioned patterns which they consider to be both their everyday reality as well as how they also perceive their psyches and the universe around them. Culture also has a substantial influence on what people regard as a normal psychological character.
The multicultural critiques of modern scientific perception of mental disorders have both strength and weaknesses. The weakness in this scientific understanding is that it fails to question the rationality of an idea of mental illness. It, however, argues that cultural and social processes have an impact and possibly bias the science of diagnosis and psychopathology (Maddux and Winstead, 2015). The strength of this critique is that the concept of mental illness is bound by cultural beliefs which reflect the local biases of Western communities and that the science behind psychopathology is rationale simply in the sense that it is an acknowledged belief structure of a specific culture.
In the universe, as it exists currently, there are threats and impairments to adequate psychological operations. Furthermore, it is intriguing and provocative to perceive the world or a society in which mental health would not be preferred or valued. Instilling a value on optimal, necessary, or adequate psychological functioning could be essential to and a natural outcome of existence in the universe. Any specific description of what might constitute the local cultural values might bias optimal, adequate, or necessary psychological functioning.
Different cultures, people and societies living in a particular community will disagree as to what constitutes pathological or optimal psychological and biological functioning. The most difficult yet essential issue is how to understand the diversities between different cultures best. For instance, in the case where one traditional community regards people revealing ‘schizophrenic’ behaviors as a transitional phase from one situation to the next to encounter a transformation in the life of that individual, the other Western society undermines the individual (Colagrossi, 2018). The particular society may feel the need to stamp him out, fit him back with the society and cure him of his unfortunate disease. Just because a set of a diagnostic criterion is practical in various cultures, a specific community cannot suggest that a particular construct is meaningful or valid in their culture.
Thus, when aiming for a complete understanding from a person, a psychologist will only have a connection with an individual and the transcendent through the person’s cultural identity or and spirituality, which significantly affects a person’s core emotions, beliefs, and behaviors. Furthermore, a particular behavior pattern cannot be considered as a contributor to healthy mental functioning just because it is accepted, valued, statistically normative, or even encouraged within a specific culture (Maddux and Winstead, 2015). Therefore, it is significant for scientists to conduct more research on multicultural variation and go beyond merely classifying differences in belief systems, values, and behaviors across different communities.
Nonetheless, there have been new explanations concerning culture in psychological health practice and research which recognize that the role of several collective impacts combines to establish the identity of an individual. These impacts emerge from various heritages, not only migration status, ethnic or racial origin, nationality, religion, spirituality, and language, but also sexual orientation, age, gender identity, educational, and socioeconomic class, as well as functional standing. These effects connect in particular or unique ways, ensuing in specific experiences of a particular group or individual, for example, with influences on codependent systems of disadvantage or discrimination.
In conclusion, it is clear that culture is an undeniable, main modern viewpoint on psychopathology. Thus, in the current years, there has been a development in the literature on cultural and social psychiatry, with a growing acknowledgment of the effect of culture as a significant factor in the diagnosis, clinical manifestation, prevalence therapy response and aftermaths of mental disorder for people (Maddux and Winstead, 2015). It also defines what is wrong and what is right in society as well as what is abnormal and normal behavior. Different cultures possess several various systems which they use to deal with a particular portion of the human condition. Some of these systems can greatly assist people in paving the way for the future days that do not ignore or demonize an essential personality feature for several people.
References
Colagrossi, M. (2018). How non-industrial cultures view mental illness. Retrieved from https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/mental-illness-alan-watts-terrence-mckenna
Maddux, E. J & Winstead, A. B. (2015). Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding. New York
