Illness behavior determines the persons susceptible to diseases, and the actions individuals take to prevent and cure diseases. As cultural values determine how the individual will behave and illness behavior, it is an essential consideration for healthcare systems. From affecting perceptions on health, death, and illness, to beliefs on cause of death and how diseases are expressed and where they seek help, the influence of culture on health is vast. This paper analysis the Indian culture and its psychological cultural and religious effects on the treatment of chronic illnesses, terminal illnesses, and death.
With some of the oldest healing traditions in the world, India culture has significant effects on the way people view illnesses. Such medical practices as Ayurveda that began more than 5000 years ago are still practiced today by both Indians and non-Indians all across the world. Indian culture holds that the human body is homologous with the universe, which means that macrocosmic and microcosmic elements affect the health of individuals (Parasuraman et al., 2014) . According, the Indian culture belief that health is a reflection of balance in the body that is related to the external environment. The Indian culture holds that illness is a result of disruption of the stability and should be managed through proper nutrition, herbs, and supernatural powers in humans with minimum bodily invasion. In Indian culture, healing involves magical manipulations, sorcery, and incarnations with the use of herbs and proper nutrition.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Karma doctrine seems to link illness with wrongdoing and sin. The law of Karma beliefs in cause and effect where sin is punished here on earth. Every thought, action, or word committed accumulates karma, which can affect current and future lives (Lin et al., 2015) . Accordingly, terminal, chronic illnesses, and death are seen as a result of evil committed in a current or previous life. The strong belief in karma has an extreme propensity to affect healthcare decisions among members of the Indian community ( Lin et al., 2015) . Believing that an illness, chronic or terminal, is caused by a previous sin may result in reluctance among the members of the community to seek medical help.
The pursuit of spiritual goals in the Indian culture is highly esteemed and at times may overshadow medical practices. Indians have several spiritual, cultural practices that at times, contradict with health-seeking behavior. According to Kalra et al., (2015) such practices as fasting, those involved in sexual reproduction and central management affect the health of members of the Indian society. For example, fasting is seen as a means of gaining emotional balance and purifying the body and the soul. While in some cases, fasting in the Indian culture involves taking only certain types of foods, in other times people completely deny themselves any kind of food. This negatively affects the curing process for such diseases as diabetes. Mukherjea et al., (2013) noted that while the sick are at times allowed to not fast, some Indians quickly when they are in hospitals. Fasting is primarily held in high esteem among the elderly members of the society, which may at times jeopardize the treatment of terminal illnesses.
Another essential factor that impacts the delivery of healthcare services during long term illness and terminal illnesses involves food beliefs. With most Indians not taking beef or pork, they follow a vegetarian diet. Foods are classified as either hot or cold and have emotional meaning in the Indian culture ( Mukherjea et al., 2013) . The consumption of such food as those that are sour or high in animal protein results in a general feeling of guilt and not related to healing. Consequently, among those with chronic and terminal illnesses that require high protein content, the achievement may be hard with the restriction to plant-based products.
Another essential part of the Indian culture is their belief in death and its importance in human life and balancing of the universe. According to Indian culture, the time to die is determined by their destiny, which means that death and illnesses are a part of life hence gladly accepted (Sharma et al., 2013) . Accordingly, the Indians disallow treatment if it is only meant to prolong the life of a patient. This has a significant impact on taking care of people with terminal illnesses. While suicide and euthanasia are prohibited in Hinduism, persons with terminal illnesses who are not likely to recover are allowed to be disconnected from life support systems.
Also, Hindus believe in reincarnation, where the non-physical essence of an individual comes back in a new physical form after one dies. While this belief is mainly impactful when it comes to how people treat other animals, I also affect the way Indians treat death. Death is seen as vital for balancing of the universe (Sharma et al., 2013) . If a person dies, they are seen as taking another form. This belief is essential in consoling people after the death of a loved one hence has significant effects on the emotional wellbeing of members of the society. However, it causes reluctance in preventing death and seeking the necessary medical attention for the chronically ill and patients of terminal illnesses.
In conclusion, Indian culture affects the treatment of chronic illness and terminal illness in the psychological social and cultural way hence determining how people cope with them. With millions of people practicing such Indian healing processes as Ayurveda, cultural practices among the Indians are an essential determinant of health-seeking behavior. The doctrine of karma, pursuit of spiritual goals, fasting and believes related to death and reincarnation affect the decision to seek and use medical help for patients of terminal and chronic illnesses.
References
Kalra, S., Bajaj, S., Gupta, Y., Agarwal, P., Singh, S. K., Julka, S., ... & Agrawal, N. (2015). Fasts, feasts and festivals in diabetes-1: Glycemic management during Hindu fasts. Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism , 19 (2), 198. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4319259/
Lin, C. T., & Yen, W. H. (2015). On the naturalization of karma and rebirth. International Journal of Dharma Studies , 3 (1), 6. https://internationaljournaldharmastudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40613-015-0016-2
Mukherjee, A., Underwood, K. C., Stewart, A. L., Ivey, S. L., & Kanaya, A. M. (2013). Asian Indian views on diet and health in the United States: the importance of understanding cultural and social factors to address disparities. Family & community health , 36 (4), 311. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987985/
Parasuraman, S., Thing, G. S., & Dhanaraj, S. A. (2014). Polyherbal formulation: Concept of Ayurveda. Pharmacognosy reviews , 8 (16), 73. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127824/
Sharma, H., Jagdish, V., Anusha, P., & Bharti, S. (2013). End-of-life care: an Indian perspective. Indian journal of psychiatry , 55 (Suppl 2), S293. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705699/
