Cultural Views of Mental Illness

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being where every individual understands their own potential, can cope with normal stressors throughout life, can work productively, and is able to make an impact to their own community. The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) defines mental illness as a condition affecting a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. Knowing these terms will help me in the nursing setting when considering applying this knowledge to what cultures view as mental health versus mental illness and what they may regard as acceptable or unacceptable. Culture of a person influences their world view; nonverbal patterns of communication; and ways of seeing the person, the family, and the 'right' way of thinking and behaving in society. Deviance from these cultural expectations from other individuals involved within the group can be described as 'illness.' Because of this, mental illness opinions may differ from culture to culture. 

As a child, I was raised in a Christian home where my family taught me that everyone was equal and to treat others the way you would want to be treated. But while I was growing up and watching TV and listening to the news, I was not seeing these same ethics being applied by people of the world. Because of this, people my age were growing up learning that people with mental illness were outsiders or “different” and that they should all be institutionalized and or treated different. It was portrayed that these people had a choice to get better and that if they wanted to, they could. I was raised by a family that was familiar with the medical field and even familiar with mental illness, as a few members of my family had been diagnosed with or have experienced people with mental illness. But I never remember being taught about treatment options.

People can maintain emotional health through the treatment of medication and the use of non-pharmacological options to assist, distract. or make them feel better. Medicines can be used to help reduce anxiety, help in sleep, decrease hallucinations, etc. Non-pharmacological alternatives could be exercise, support groups, cooking, fishing, or even getting animals.

Wellness is seen as the balance of body, spirit, mind, and nature in the Native American Culture. Native Americans think that diseases invade bodies of imbalanced individuals, are adverse thinkers, or live unhealthy lifestyles. Beliefs differ between the many Native American tribes living within the United States, but some Native American groups have certain beliefs about the cause and treatment of mental illness that are not the usual clinical practice, and their expression of emotional or psychological distress may not match what is clinically expected. Some Native Americans get help with care from “traditional healers” and not Medical Doctors. They view the interventions of medicine as being focused more on healing the person than curing the disease. They also believe that the person with the illness could heal themselves through their mind, body, and soul. Terms such as “ghost sickness” and “heartbreak syndrome” are used in this culture as expressing feelings of distress such as feeling “depressed” or “anxious” in ours. 

It would be difficult to treat a Native American in our modern healthcare based on their beliefs using mainly “traditional healers” and when providing care to people of other cultures, provide that care being non-judgmental with cultural competence.

References

• Grandbois, D. (2005). Stigma of mental illness among American Indian and Alaska native nations: Historical and contemporary perspectives. Retrieved from http://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/healthfair/PDF%20articles%20for%20fact%20sheet%20linking/Stigma_mentalillness_AIAN.pdf
• Starting the Conversation about Mental Health in the Native American Community. Retrieved from https://www.sheppardpratt.org/news-views/story/starting-conversation-about-mental-health-native-american-co/
• HALTER, M. A. R. G. A. R. E. T. J. O. R. D. A. N. (2017). Varcarolis Foundations of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: a clinical approach. S.l.: ELSEVIER SAUNDERS.
• Honoring customs and traditions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/document/acsd-007382.pdf
• Mental health: a state of wellbeing. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/
• Mental health conditions. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions