Key Q - Clinical

Question 1

What is the Key Question for Clinical Psychology?

Answer 1

How do you attitudes towards mental health disorders very cross culturally?

Question 2

What is Stigma?

Answer 2

Prejudicial social attitudes + discriminating behaviour towards individuals with mental health problems as a result of the psychiatric label they’ve been given

Question 3

What is Adherence?

Answer 3

The following, by a patient, of a recommended course of treatment

Question 4

What is Prognosis?

Answer 4

Likely course of the disorder

Question 5

Why are differences in attitudes towards mental health disorders important?

Answer 5

• May influence whether or not someone is likely to seek help from mental illness
• May influence how likely someone is to adhere to treatment for mental illness
• May influence the type of diagnosis given
• May influence the prognosis of the disorder

Question 6

Why do attitudes towards mental health influence whether someone will seek help for mental illness?

Answer 6

If mental illness is strongly associated with social stigma, people may be less likely to seek treatment

Question 7

Why do attitudes towards mental health influence how likely someone is to adhere to treatment?

Answer 7

If they don’t believe in a medical explanation for their symptoms, they are less likely to take any medication prescribed for them

Question 8

Why do attitudes towards mental health influence the type of diagnosis given?

Answer 8

• If mental health practitioners are unfamiliar with the patients culture
• They may miss diagnose them
• Due to the patient displaying culturally specific symptoms

Question 9

Why do attitudes towards mental health influence the prognosis of the disorder?

Answer 9

The WHO published research which suggested that people from developing countries had a better prognosis for schizophrenia then people from developed countries

Question 10

How do the findings from Cheon et al (2012) suggest that there are differences in the amount of stigma associated with mental illness between cultures?

Answer 10

Asians + Asian Americans typically have more negative attitudes towards mental illness than white European + Caucasian Americans

Question 11

How do the findings from Stefanovics et al (2016) suggest that different cultures have different beliefs about the causes of mental illness?

Answer 11

• He compared attitudes of healthcare professionals to mental illness in 5 countries: the USA, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria and China
• Found that people from Ghana + Nigeria had the highest level of belief in the supernatural causes

Question 12

How do the findings from Twesigye et al (2016) suggest that cultures that believe mental illness is associated with stigma may be less likely to accept treatment for mental disorders?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

How do the findings from Luhrmann et al (2015) suggest that different attitudes to mental illness may affect the type of symptoms that people show?

Answer 13

• He looked at the type of auditory hallucinations experienced by patients in Ghana, India and the USA
• Found that Ps in USA were more likely to report negative commands than the other groups, whereas the patients from India + Ghana were more likely to report rich relationships with their voices

Question 14

How are the Findings from Bobby K et al (2012) an Example of Cross-Cultural Differences in Stigma of Mental Illness?

Answer 14

Asians and Asian Americans typically indorse greater stigma than Westerners

Question 15

How are the Findings from Carpenter-Song E et al (2010) an Example of Cross-Cultural Differences in Stigma of Mental Illness?

Answer 15

• For Latino Ps the cultural category of anxiety held little stigma
• For African Americans, stigma was a prominent theme in their narrative accounts
• For Euro-Americans, psychiatric stigma wasn’t a core focus in their narrative

Question 16

How are the Findings from Twesigye et al (2016) an Example of Cross-Cultural Differences in Stigma of Mental Illness?

Answer 16

In Uganda, stigma was expressed in the form of derogatory labels and social exclusion from public life

Question 17

How are the Findings from Stefanovics et al (2016) an Example of Cross-Cultural Differences in Stigma of Mental Illness?

Answer 17

• Greater evidence of stigmatised attitudes in developing countries
• Chinese sample had lowest score on socialising with people with mental health + beliefs that they should have normal roles in society
• Whereas, US sample had highest scores on this

Question 18

What is an Example of Cross-Cultural Differences in Stigma of Mental Illness?

Answer 18

• Buddhists are reluctant to admit mental illness as it’s associated with punishment and misdeeds
• In Arabic countries, mental illnesses often stigmatised
• In non-western cultures, mental illness brings shame, taboo + stigma to sufferers

Question 19

How are the Findings from Bobby K et al (2012) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Beliefs about Explanations/Causes of Mental Illness?

Answer 19

Asian cultures believe that mental illness occurs within an individual as a punishment for sinful behaviour in their previous life

Question 20

How are the Findings from Carpenter-Song E et al (2010) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Beliefs about Explanations/Causes of Mental Illness?

Answer 20

• Euro American Ps were most aligned with professional disease - orientated perspectives on severe mental illness
• African American + Latino Ps emphasised non biomedical interpretations of behavioural, emotional and cognitive problems

Question 21

What are Examples of Cross Cultural Differences in Beliefs about Explanations/Causes of Mental Illness?

Answer 21

• Vietnamese consider mental health as a form of punishment for the sufferers
• China consider it as a form of possession by an evil spirit
• Buddhist believe it’s a form of punishment

Question 22

How are the Findings from Marcolin (1991) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Beliefs about Explanations/Causes of Mental Illness?

Answer 22

In developing countries, belief that mental illness is caused by supernatural forces

Question 23

How are the Findings from Stefanovics et al (2016) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Beliefs about Explanations/Causes of Mental Illness?

Answer 23

• US have highest score on non belief of supernatural causes

* Whereas, Nigerian + Ghanaian were lowest scores on this

Question 24

How are the Findings from Luhrmann et al (2015) an Example of Cross Cultural Difference in Symptoms of Mental Illness?

Answer 24

• Americans more likely to hear voices about violence, telling them to harm people, causing them to fear their auditory hallucinations
• Indians more likely to hear voices of their family asking them to perform tasks, these hallucinations were often playful
• People from Ghana were more likely to hear voices from God
• Schizophrenics in India and Ghana were more likely to report rich relationships with their voices
• Symptoms are shaped by local culture

Question 25

How are the Findings from Marcolin (1991) an Example of Cross Cultural Difference in Symptoms of Mental Illness?

Answer 25

Symptoms differed across cultures

Question 26

How are the Findings from Carpenter-Song E et al (2010) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Adherence to Treatment?

Answer 26

• Euro Americans were more likely to accept help through the advice + counsel of mental health professionals
• Latin Americans + African Americans were less likely to accept help + keep it as a private matter within the family

Question 27

How are the Findings from Twesigye et al (2016) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Adherence to Treatment?

Answer 27

• In Uganda, patients were inhibited from seeking + utilising psychiatric care
• While, adherence + recovery were undermined

Question 28

What are Examples of Cross Cultural Differences in Adherence to Treatment?

Answer 28

• In China, Vietnamese, Japanese, Asian + Buddhist cultures - they may feel reluctant to seek help
• In Arabic culture - they feel they need to protect their family status + family plays a role in whether Arabic clients will utilise mental health services, but may also not seek help or family will try and help
• In non-Western cultures - traditional methods of healing play a role in a clients recovery (e.g. yoga meditation, etc)

Question 29

How are the Findings from Marcolin (1991) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Adherence to Treatment?

Answer 29

In traditional communities - extended families provide a supportive environment for recovery + rehabilitation

Question 30

How are the Findings from Carpenter-Song E et al (2010) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Outcomes/Prognosis for Mental Illness?

Answer 30

• African Americans were less likely to trust medical health providers + less likely to want to accept medication
• Euro American were more likely than both to accept help

Question 31

How are the Findings from Marcolin (1991) an Example of Cross Cultural Differences in Outcomes/Prognosis for Mental Illness?

Answer 31

• Developing countries - patients w/ schizophrenia have a more positive prognosis compared to patients in western industrialised societies
• Non-industrialised societies - there is a lack of specialised jobs + competitive expectations, which may allow a person with schizophrenia to reintegrate more easily into his community after a psychotic episode
• Industrialised nations - course of disease is more severe than in developing countries
• The variability in prognosis may be related to the socio-cultural context of the patient’s family
• So, personal dynamics within the family may be an important mediator of the observed cross cultural differences in the outcome of schizophrenia