Clinical Key Question Flashcards
What is your key question for clinical psychology?
How do attitudes towards mental health disorders vary cross-culturally?
Define stigma
Stigma: prejudicial attitudes and discriminating behaviour directed towards individuals with mental health problems as a result of the psychiatric label they have been given.
Define adherence
Adherence: the following, by the patient, of a recommended course of treatment.
Define prognosis
Prognosis: likely course of the disorder.
WHAT KIND OF DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARDS MENTAL ILLNESS MIGHT WE FIND ACROSS CULTURES?
•The degree to which mental illness is stigmatised
•Explanations for mental illness (e.g. biological or social or supernatural)
•Symptoms experienced (e.g. type of delusions experienced in schizophrenia)
Why are these differences in attitudes towards mental health important?
•They may influence whether or not someone is likely to seek help for mental illness. If mental illness is strongly associated with social stigma, people may be less likely to seek treatment.
•They may influence how likely someone is to adhere to treatment for mental illness. For example, if they do not believe in a medical explanation for their symptoms, they are less likely to take any medication prescribed for them.
•They may influence the type of diagnosis given. If mental health practitioners are unfamiliar with the patient’s culture, they may misdiagnose them, due to the patient displaying culturally specific symptoms.
•They may influence the prognosis of the disorder. For example, the WHO published research which suggested that people from developing countries had a better prognosis for schizophrenia than people from developed countries.
Cross-cultural research suggests that there are differences in the amount of stigma associated with mental illness between cultures.
Evidence for this comes from research by
• Evidence for this comes from research by Cheon et al
(2012)which suggests that Asians and Asian Americans typically have more negative attitudes towards mental illness than White Europeans and Caucasian Americans.
Research also suggests that different cultures have different beliefs about the causes of mental. Evidence for this comes from research from
• Evidence for this comes from research by Stefanovics et al (2016) which compared attitudes of health care professionals to mental illness in five countries: the USA, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, and China. They found that people from Chana and Nigeria had the highest level of belief in supernatural causes.
Cultures that believe that mental illness is associated with stigma may be less likely to accept treatment for mental disorders. Evidence for this comes from research by
• Evidence for this comes from research by Twesigye et al (2016) which found that patients suffering from bipolar disorder in Uganda were deterred from seeking help for mental illness due to the high levels of stigma associated with psychiatric illness.
Different attitudes to mental illness may affect the type of symptoms that people show. evidence for this comes from research by
• Evidence for this comes from research by Luhrmann et al (2015) which looked at the type of auditory hallucinations experienced by patients in Ghana, India and the USA. They found that participants in the USA were more likely to report negative commands than the other two groups, whereas the patients from India and Ghana were more likely to report rich relationships with their voices.
Discuss the key question of how attitudes to mental health disorders vary cross-culturallly, using concepts theories and/or research from clinical psychology,
Our key question in clinical psychology is ‘How do attitudes towards mental health disorders vary cross-culturally? This is currently a significant issue in society as there are differences in how attitudes to mental health disorders vary cross culturally due to stigma, explanation of causes and differences in how symptoms are experienced.
P - Firstly, different cultural beliefs about stigma affect whether a person seeks treatment.
E: Stigma refers to negative attitudes towards mental illness, and can differ between cultures.
E: For example, Cheon et al (2012) found that Asian Americans showed stronger negative implicit attitudes toward mental illness than Caucasian Americans
• T- This is important because in certain cultures a person may experience prejudice and discriminating behaviour directed towards them, so are less likely to seek treatment as they do not want to be seen as mentally ill.
C- Evidence by Twsigye at al (2016) found that patients suffering from bipolar disorder were deterred from seeking help for mental illness due to the high levels of stigma towards psychiatric illness in Uganda.
• T: This is important as these individuals may experience their illness becoming worse if they do not seek treatment and if they do seek treatment, they may become stigmatised.
Both outcomes lead them to become rejected by society.
P - Another important factor which may affect prognosis (course of the disorder) and also the seeking of treatment, is the individual’s beliefs of the cause of their mental illness.
E- Depending on the cultural context, individuals may believe in biological, social or supernatural reasons for their mental health disorder.
E- For example, research by Meharby found that in China, mental illness can be considered a from of possession by an evil spirit (supernatural beliefs).
According to Buddhist belief, a person’s suffering is a punishment for one’s previous misdeeds. Therefore, relatives of the suffering person will be unwilling to disclose such information to others.
T: This belief can make the whole family feel isolated, and avoid contact with friends and medical professionals who may be able to provide appropriate support in terms of explanations and treatment for the psychological disorder.
