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Culture = Mental Health

2/22/2020

9 Comments

 
PictureElementary Students in China
By: Wes Nakour

Culture: the arts and other manifestation of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively (Oxford, 2020). In the matter of mental health, culture impacts a persons beliefs, norms and values, including how the person perceives ideas and behaviors which process through their minds in different ways with different emotions. Unfortunately, according to The Commonwealth  Fund, many minorities in the United States are less likely to get mental health treatment or will wait until symptoms are severe before doing so (CWF, 1997). This research was found in 1997, and we can assume with population growth and migration over the past decade that the matter has only gotten worse.

A part from minorities in the United States, the most severe mental health conditions come from cultures that encourage education heavily and dictates one's life based on their level of education. In China, there is a rising mental health crisis in China's education system. With rising competition due to the dense population, the academic stress in addition to the increasing competition is causing a mental health crises for youth and young adults. A study of 2,191 students ages 9-12 years old found that 81% of the children worried “a lot” about exams, 63% of them were afraid of punishment by teachers, and 73% of them were physically punished by their parents for lax academic effort (Hesketh et al, 2010). The culture plays a major role in these punishments, as it does similarly in my own middle eastern culture. Education plays a major role in many different cultures, and often punishment is associated with poor performance academically which plants the seed that will feed and grow on the stress students are facing through the many years spent in the education system.  

One reading that I found especially enlightening was Gender Differences & Mental Health. According to the WHO, The lifetime prevalence rate for alcohol dependence, a common disorder, is more than twice as high in men than women. In developed countries, approximately 1 in 5 men and 1 in 12 women develop alcohol dependence during their lives. In result, men are more than three times more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder than women (WHO, 2013). This contributes heavily to the discussion of where the mental illnesses stem from and how they affect the different genders. The dependence for alcohol causes neurological damage to the brain and especially impacts mood and behavior. Most of the time, improper consumption can end a person up in jail which down the road contributes to even more mental illness because of the consequences of having a criminal record. The complexity of mental health reminds us that gender is not the only thing to factor into this discussion, there are personality/behavior altering substances in abundance for consumption that causes mental health problems on both sides, men more likely than women in this case. 

​Another reading that was especially enlightening was Facts About Women and Mental Health, specifically the fact that d
epression, anxiety, psychological distress, sexual violence, domestic violence and escalating rates of substance use affect women to a greater extent than men across different countries and different settings. According to the WHO, depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms and high rates of comorbidity are significantly related to interconnected and co-occurrent risk factors such as gender based roles, stressors and negative life experiences and events (WHO, 2013). Unfortunately in the world we live in gender inequality is significantly related to interconnected factors which determines the different power and control men and women have over their socioeconomic status which lead to specific mental health risks. This is an important conscious note for healthcare providers to go the extra mile and ask patients about their mental health. Ultimately, the truth is, most men and women are under diagnosed with mental health disorders, leading to permanent stressors that solidify the placement of gender based roles which ultimately accounts to the worlds leading burden of disease being depression. 
​
​References: 



A Comparative Survey of Minority Health. (1997, July 1). Retrieved February 21, 2020, from
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publication/1997/jul/comparative-survey-minority-health
​

Gender and women's mental health. (2013, June 24). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/

Zhao, X., Harvard Graduate School of Education, & University of Calgary. (2010, March 3). Academic stress in Chinese schools and a proposed preventive intervention program. Retrieved from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331186x.2014.1000477#





9 Comments
Megan Pintok
2/22/2020 04:05:39 pm

Hello Wes! Thank you for your blog post. I really thought it was a great idea to define culture before diving into the contributing factors of mental health in correlation with culture. It is interesting to read the impact of heavy education based cultural norms dictating the lives of people and essentially how they will succeed in life. The mental health aspect of this issue raises attention toward the stressful mental toll it has on students in addition to facing physical abuse as punishment. This heightens the level of mental health issues presented in culture that deeply affect the mental state of individuals and describing the connection between education and cultural expectations. Thank you for sharing!

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Gellila Solomon
2/22/2020 09:31:27 pm

I agree that cultural plays a big part in your mental health, In my cultural mental health is a taboo. If you are suffering from any type of mental health illness, then it's the devil taking control of your body. It means that God is punishing you, for your actions. And the lack of support that your family gives you can cause your mental illness to get worst. Especially the lack of support with receiving a bad grades can affect your mental health. I went to a competitive high school, where everyone talked and bragged about their grades. They didn't realize the huge affect comparing grades has on students and their mental health. Now they started to really focus on mental health and Lessing the amount of homework their give their students.

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Allie Boyer
2/22/2020 10:47:18 pm

Hi Wes!
I agree that culture plays a large role on ones personal beliefs, norms, and values. In certain cultures, mental health isn't always talked about, and it is sad that the symptoms of depression or anxiety have to get severe in order for one to be comfortable seeking help. It was shocking to read your comments about the crisis in China's education system. I hadn't heard of this matter beforehand, but it was a great insight! This type of stress can't be healthy for young adults or their mental health. I couldn't imagine being under that type of stress day to day. Great response! I enjoyed reading.

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TJ Kapil
2/23/2020 11:33:10 am

Hi Wes,
Thank you for sharing. I found your post to be very interesting. I agree with you that culture plays a huge role in influencing our beliefs. In many cultures talking about mental health is kind of like a taboo which is why so many people are afraid to get help. They are afraid of what others would think of them. I think academic stress has become a huge contributor to problems like depression. As competition increases, students are starting to become overwhelmed. I have heard similar problems are occurring in India as well.

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Samantha Sinclair
2/23/2020 07:32:29 pm

HI Wes,

I resonated with your comment about the effects of stress on the mental health of Chinese kids. It can be applied to Dr. Nadine Burke's TED talk. She is a strong female pediatrician who is making waves in healthcare. Her TED TALK, How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime (2014), describes her work. She was recently named California’s first Surgeon General. This is an important milestone because she is a black and female, but her real work is her study of adverse childhood experiences, or ACE. Burke created a screening tool to detect ACE. The results of the tool help guide caregivers in appropriate treatment. This tool should ask about experiences that involved physical abuse, substance abuse, poverty and mental illness. Studies have shown that children exposed to these experiences are strongly linked to health risks later in life. This is an idea of "upstream thinking". How can we prevent these problems and help children cope with traumatic experiences before they lead to chronic diseases.

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Erica Nguyen
2/24/2020 09:56:54 pm

I also found the WHO article about gender differences & mental health extremely useful. I really appreciated how in depth they went in terms of the different inequalities that both gender face. It's saddening to know that your health status could possibly be determined just based off of your gender. I think there needs to be better improvements in the healthcare field to ensure that all women are healthy and happy. Unfortunately, that's really hard to make happen right away as there are other factors that you mention that can determine an individuals' health status. I hope we eventually get to a point where we can ensure that individuals of either gender can receive the proper care that they deserve.

Reply
Joo link
2/26/2020 12:29:32 pm

As one of the Asian American student who've been in a education in Korea, I can really see how forcing young students to be pressured and result negative outcomes for mental health. Being pressured, being in a competitive environment was the worst educational environment that I've ever been in and I couldn't stressed out more from it. I really hope many Asia start encourage students with mental health and of its awareness... Thank you for sharing with all of us and it is so relatable!

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Honey Cin
2/26/2020 11:39:28 pm

Hi Wes, I agree with you that culture plays a huge role in a person's beliefs. I also grow up in cultures that encourage education heavily and dictates one's life based on their level of education. If a student fails the class, not only parents but also teachers hit the student with the stick as many as they want. Teachers also hit us if we can't finish our assignments. Parent put their hope and expectation on the kids, which made most the students scare of tests and assignments. Your blog post reminds me of my childhood life. I think it still affects me because I can't sleep and eat in the final week until today.

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Raiye Abunie
3/7/2020 09:07:55 pm

Hello Wes,

After doing some extensive research this week about domestic violence and it's leading up causes as well as consequences, I couldn't agree with you more when you stated how "depression, anxiety, psychological distress, sexual violence, domestic violence and escalating rates of substance use affect women to a greater extent than men across different countries and different settings." In fact, did you know that "“nearly 1 in 4 of all Ethiopian women have been the victims of physical violence, while 1 in 10 has been victims of rape,” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark). It's also due to stigma and cultural values as reasons why women do not seek help or seek our resources.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. (n.d.). Ethiopia: Supporting women and girls survivors of violence. Retrieved from https://um.dk/en/danida-en/results/stories/ethiopia-support-to-survivors-of-gender-violence/

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