Question

the name of the course is an introduction to mental health

Define the term ‘culture.’ What are the various ways that culture can impact mental health?

please mention the resource if you can, and I will do the citation by my own self. thanks

Answer 1

Answer- Culture can be defined as a set of ideas, attitudes, behaviours, norms and traditions within large groups of people in a society. Usually these groups of people belong to a common religion, family etc. The ideas and traditions of a culture are passed on from one generation to other. Culture is known as the social behaviour in human societies.The culture of a society affects its values, norms, traditions, attitudes of people, their education, physical and mental health. The culture can impact the mental health of people with regard of stigma. At one place, some cultural values of self reliance are empowered, at the same time, these cultural values also ignore the mental issues related with it. In some societies, when someone has a mental illness like stress or depression, people like to adopt religious methods rather than consulting a doctor.

Psychiatrists have found correlation between religious practices and poor mental health. Another impact is cultural isolation. People may feel isolated in cultural groups as a result of the stigma. There are some cutural groups that accept people suffering with mental illness. They do not understand someone's mental state which gives a feeling of isolation to that person. On the basis of this discussion, we can say that cutural pride is the main reason for not accepting mental health issues in a particular culture. There is a need of awareness programs regarding mental health issues and their remedies in a society.