Inclusion of Cultural Factors Into the Mental Health Treatment Mix Today, the United States and numerous other Western nations have experienced fundamental shifts in their demographic composition, and a growing body of evidence indicates that cultural factors such as different views of mental illness, interpretations of behavior, and family structure have fundamentally changed counseling and psychological treatment. In response, clinicians have sought to integrate evidence-based practices that take into account cross-cultural differences with respect to mental health treatment. Despite these recent trends, though, many people suffering from mental health disorders, irrespective of their backgrounds and ethnicity, remain the target of stigmatization which can adversely affect their willingness to actively participate in mental health treatment due to cultural differences that place a heavy burden on those who concede they need help. To determine the facts about these recent trends in mental health treatment, this paper reviews the relevant literature to provide an overview of the cross-cultural issues that constrain the efficacy of mental health interventions and how...
Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning mental health interventions in a cross-cultural setting are provided in the conclusion.
Health and Well-Being of a Chosen Group: Diagnosed mental disorders Barriers Barriers to assistance for diagnosed mental disorders exist on the individual, community, and social level. On an individual level, people are often reluctant to admit to themselves that they are mentally ill, or a refusal to recognize that they are ill is actually part of the pathology of their illness. On a social level, discomfort in dealing with people who are
African American Youth with Mental IllnessPart 1: BackgroundObservationThe African American Youth experience unique structural and contextual hurdles as they transition from childhood into early adulthood. While their experiences vary, similar cultural phenomena are prevalent and make this population more prone to mental health challenges than white peers. According to Snowden (2020), one in every five African American youth (9 million) has a severe mental illness, and less than half of
Mental Illness and Child Abuse The physical abuse of children was 'rediscovered' by physicians over fifty years ago. Since then, some observers have expressed concern at the continuing 'medicalisation' of what they consider to be essentially a social problem (Parton, 1985). A widely-held view emerged from the ensuing debate that child physical abuse and neglect occurred through an interaction between parents, children and their social environment. The model described parents with
When one throws the element of ethnicity into the mix, the process of diagnosis becomes even more difficult. Let us take, for instance the effect of religion on the diagnosis of a mental illness. In some religions it is considered to be "normal" to experience visions, see ghosts, and talk to the dead. However, from a strict clinical standpoint, these things do not exist and therefore indicate a break from
Mental Illness The foremost question relating to mental illness concerns about its very existence - whether mental illness actually exists or not? According to Thomas Szasz, mental illness is a mere myth (Szasz, 1960) and does not exist, as illness can be defined only in terms of physical pathology and most mental disorders have no such demonstrable pathology. In a similar viewpoint, it was argued that biology was not relevant to
Edwards challenges the extreme on the other end as well, i.e. that total wellness sis the only possible state of being labeled healthy. The scholar sites the World Health Organization's definition of wellness as complete mental and physical wellness as far too broad and encompassing and illegitimates the reality of human existence. (16. Edwards, CC2010, pp. 0090) Edwards ultimately argues that the challenges faced by both those who believe
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