GRSJ224/Stigmatization of Mental Health in Asian Indian Communities

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Stigmatization of Mental Health in Asian Indian Communities

Overview

Mental Health Message.jpg

Mental health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is defined as the "state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community". WHO goes on further to explain how health is not measured through solely physical measures but "mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".[1]

Asian Indian communities both in Asian countries and western countries such as Canada face a lot of internal stigma in regards to mental health. Although having symptoms of a significant mental illness can be challenging at times, it is made out to be that the attitude toward and around the individual is weighed much more heavily and is much worse than the diagnosis itself. There may be many factors in the development of mental health in minorities and immigrants such as those in Asian Indian communities, however, the focus of the stigmatization of mental health is through addressing what the stigma looks like, collective cultural ideals, and the intersectionality in these domains.

Collectivistic Culture

Collective cultures are extremely interdependent and are not seen as individuals, but as a collective group that represents one another. Many countries in Asia are considered to have collectivistic cultures. Asian Indians are another group that take part in a collectivistic culture and have ideals that are frowned upon if not followed. Many collectivistic cultures, such as the one Asian Indians belong too, exude success, dedication, and resilience in their personal lives of migrating to a new country and becoming an immigrant. However with this, there is a "strong pressure to outwardly project these characteristics and not admit "mental weakness". [2]

Family at Fatehpur Sikri, India (23578308526).jpg

Cultural Ideals and Issues

Like many collectivistic cultures around the world, Asian Indians traditionally believe that "verbal expression and overt display of emotion is undesirable as it is a sign of weakness and damages relationships", this is considered a "cultural defence" to protect one another from bringing shame and negative attention to oneself and their family. [3]

As mentioned before, collective cultures main focal point is the social structure of their families. How this impacts treatment is when individuals are not able to mesh with their therapist who is using cognitive behaviour therapy as it "primarily focuses on ego structure and individuals".[3]

Differences Between Individualistic Culture and Collectivistic Culture

Culture plays a integral role in one's life, not only in the formation of identity but also in forming one's perspective on the world and the health issues they may encounter in their lifetime. An individual's understanding of their own mental health can also be quite severely impacted through culture and can "determine the acceptability of treatment"[3] which if seen poorly can lead to stigma.

Treatment can have many differences when comparing these two cultures. A collectivistic culture such as the one in India, can be seen using "classical conditioning" as a way to treat mental health issues. [3] Somatization is quite a popular misunderstanding when coming to the diagnosis of mental health struggles in collectivistic cultures, which leads to the "expectation of pharmacological treatment for "physical illness'". Whereas in western countries, the treatment that is predominately used is psychotherapy which is "[aiming] to strengthen the ego". This is quite different from Asian Indian populations as they use spirituality to "misidentify with your ego". [3]

The woman is always at the corner.jpg

Intersectionality

Intersectionality defines the discrimination against marginalized identities in society that are often overlooked. It attempts to combine the multiple social stratification in understanding oppression and inequality. [4]

Intersectionality, more often than not, is used to identify discrimination against marginalized identities in societal issues such as gender differences, social economic differences, and race differences. However, it is just as important to apply intersectionality to one's adverse health impacts as they are "thought to occur via social processes including discrimination and structural inequalities". [5] A study collected survey data of 619 women to indicate how the number of "marginalized identities and frequency of discrimination explained a 15% variance in post-traumatic stress disorder". [5]

While researching on Asian Indian communities, gender contributes to one's mental health status as females "have higher rates of depression and anxiety". [2] Not only is there stigma within the community itself that creates somatization, there is intersectionality within this topic as women have a harder time not only admitting but receiving the help that they need for their mental health.

Stigma

Stigma takes form in redirection through "collectivistic cultures using external explanations of good or bad event".[6] In this case, the bad event would be an individuals acquisition of poor mental health. [7] Another form of stigma that collectivistic cultures may experience is the self-stigma or internalized stigma due to the "adoption of public stigma". Due to this, individual's sense of self decreases and low-self esteem forms.[6]

The adoption of public stigma is also related to cultural groups wanting to save face, which is the ability to preserve the patient and clients image for the purpose of the community. Unfortunately, in many Asian cultures, mental health is seen to "reflect poorly on one's family and negatively affects one's chances for marriage" which is highly important in many of these cultures. [8]

Another reason why stigma occurs is because of the "limited resources, population size, and stigma in seeking help for mental health issues, especially among the poor rural masses"[3]. Those who lack the understanding of psychopathology due to their social economic status are more likely to have stigma surrounding mental health.


References