The studies identified and included in this study were all qualitative. Shefer et al. (Reference Shefer, Rose, Nellums, Thornicroft, Henderson and Evans-Lacko2013) reported that cultural belief affected not just MH utilisation but relationships of the BAME. Edge and MacKian (Reference Edge and MacKian2010) also reported that patients who have had a negative encounter with MH service use are reluctant to return. For https://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/Health-Services/Cancer-Prevention-and-Health-Promotion-Coalition/LGBTQ-Health/Mental-Health example, patients described sectioning the MH unit as ‘criminalising black people’ (Rabiee and Smith, Reference Rabiee and Smith2014).
Every culture comes with its own set of norms and expectations. This can be tough, but lots of young people have this experience, and there will be people out there who get you. But it can be confusing if you feel like you don’t fit neatly into one culture.
How Stigma Affects Help-Seeking Behavior
Limited or biased research may emphasize the most frequently studied symptoms, not necessarily the most relevant or decisive in the clinical presentation, generating significant variations in epidemiological studies, among others. The fate of the cultural aspects of psychiatric diagnosis in the ICD is, in turn, ambiguous, if not nebulous. Some may say that DSM-IV represented a modest improvement in terms of recognition and acceptance of a cultural perspective. There is no question about the new relevance that a well-based diagnosis acquired for research work, teaching activities, and actual treatment approaches.
Studies that answered ‘yes’ to both questions were adopted for a full appraisal and studies which answered ‘no’ to both questions were dropped (CASP, 2017). Data were extracted from the eligible studies using a predeveloped data extraction table by Caldwell et al. (Reference Caldwell, Church and Fowler2010). The evidence on migration shows that the UK experienced an increase in migrant population by 1.4 million (5.5% of the national population) in the last decade justified this criterion (Hawkins, Reference Hawkins2016). Tentatively eligible studies were obtained by searching CINAHL, APA PsycINFO and Medline.
Cultural adaptations of evidence-based treatments
Given the breadth of this topic, we focus on the most pervasive social determinants across the life course, and those that are common across major mental disorders. Born and raised in a refugee camp in Africa, Egette Indelele has experienced the struggles of accessing mental health care. This underscores the fact that cultural differences shape how mental health is understood, and some refugees may not identify with Western conceptualizations of mental health problems.
Globalization and Acculturation: Effects on Mental Health
- This approach enables the evaluation of mental health conditions not just by mortality rates—which are often low—but by the extent to which they impair daily functioning and quality of life.
- To advance intervention science, future efforts should foreground CHWs in decision-making processes about cultural adaptations of mental health interventions, and attend to the cultural values of the served population to increase interventions’ cultural responsiveness.
- In contrast, other cultures might view mental disorders more straightforwardly as biological or physiological phenomena, akin to physical ailments.
- Mindfulness approaches encourage people to intensely focus on the present moment, in order to calm physiological responses and reduce stress.
A recent review of interventions to promote housing affordability and stability found no evidence of improved mental health outcomes in selective populations (particularly homeless and Veteran groups)381. Two reviews from that paper found evidence of a stronger effect of cognitive (shared language, values and codes) than structural (networks, rules, roles) social capital on common mental disorders258. There is some evidence that mental health outcomes are worse for LGBTQ+ people who experience poverty, or who are from ethnoracial minoritized backgrounds, highlighting the intersectional ways in which social inequalities affect mental health187. We first review the evidence that exists to support a causal association between key social determinants and mental health and disorder.