Each society has its own unique cultural values such as shared beliefs, practices, and norms. Alongside biology and environment, cultural values can play an important role in shaping mental health prevalence and experiences in a population. For example, in comparison to the United States, depression is 50% as prevalent in Japan and 128% as prevalent in Greece when measured in age-standardized disability-adjusted life year rates per 10,000 inhabitants as of 2021, despite all the countries being high-income and developed.
Culture influences many aspects of mental illness, including how patients from a given culture express and manifest their symptoms, their way of coping, the strength of family and community supports, and their willingness to seek treatment. On the other hand, the cultures of the clinician and the service system influence diagnosis, treatment, and service delivery.
Among the countless interactions between mental health and cultural values, one key factor is the willingness to seek help with a mental health professional when needed. This variable can be affected by stigma, importance of honor, and norms of openness. Mental health stigma can manifest as the pervasive belief that mental health is a form of weakness and not a true disease, leading to people fruitlessly trying to work through it on their own. As a result of existing stigma, those who do seek help are ostracized. In a society that values honor, the effect of stigma becomes more pronounced. There are also differences in the openness of sharing personal issues, especially with strangers such as therapists.
Cultural misunderstandings or communication problems between patients and clinicians may prevent patients from seeking professional services and receiving appropriate care. Cultural competence is the behaviors, attitudes and skills that allow a health care provider to work effectively with different cultural groups. Finding culturally competent providers is important because they understand the essential role that culture plays in life and health. Culturally competent providers have a thorough understanding of the specific cultural beliefs and values that their patients have.
Despite the double-edged impact of cultural values on mental health, one should not feel obliged to move abroad. The benefits of being surrounded by a positive cultural framework can be obtained by simply deliberately incorporating its beliefs and actions into one’s life. By keeping up to date with evidence-based approaches, it is possible for one to effectively negate the effects of negative cultural values.
Source: Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, Office of the Surgeon General (US); Center for Mental Health Services (US); National Institute of Mental Health (US).
Inside the Mind 