Drugs or Voodoo: Treating mental illnesses around the globe

The attitudes towards mental illness vary as a result of family, ethnicity and cultural differences. The views of cultures and religions commonly influence individuals’ beliefs about the provenance of mental illnesses, in turn influencing how people act towards those with mental illnesses. In addition to this, cultural and religious views of mental illness influence patients’ willingness to ask for help and acceptance of that help. As a result, understanding cultural views of mental illness is crucial to the application of mental health care and its’ effectiveness. A study conducted in Jamaica studied the cultural belief in “Obeah”, a belief system which uses supernatural forces such as witchcraft, magical ritual and sorcery to cope with physical, spiritual, personal and psychological distress (Ellis, 2015). Jamaicans associate changes to behaviour and mental state with supernatural causes and use Obeah to cure any problems. This demonstrates how mental illness is treated in the Jamaican culture and suggests that Westernised treatments would not work on Jamaicans who believe their Obeah illnesses are caused by supernatural forces. This suggests that mental health professionals should not generalise cultural differences surrounding mental illness.

But what does this mean for mental health care? As a result of modern day globalization, a larger array of cultural backgrounds are being treated in settings that do not match their cultural heritage. Culture influences almost all areas of mental illness including coping mechanisms, the ways problems are manifested and likelihood to seek treatment. It is therefore crucial that health services recognise these differences when diagnosing and treating mental illnesses. A recommendation for this is for all cultures to have culturally-specific diagnosis systems that are flexible and can adapt to treat patients from other cultural backgrounds. An example of this in its’ infancy is found in Japan, where patients are less commonly institutionalised because families traditionally play a key role in giving care to family members with illnesses. Instead of medicinal methods, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is now recommended for many mental illnesses in Japan so that families can continue to guide treatment (Sono, Oshima & Ito, 2008). With the rise of immigration around the globe, treatments like this which aim to understand a patients’ cultural background is only going to become increasingly indispensable for mental health professionals when prescribing treatments for patients.

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References

Ellis, H. A. (2015). Obeah-illness versus psychiatric entities among Jamaican immigrants: Cultural and clinical perspectives for psychiatric mental health professionals. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 29(2), 83–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2014.11.002

Sono, T., Oshima, I., Ito, J. (2008). Family needs and related factors in caring for a family member with mental illness: adopting assertive community treatment in Japan where family caregivers play a large role in community care. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 62, 584-590.