Cultural Effects On Anxiety And Ethnicity

This chapter discussed the role of sociocultural factors in psychological adjustment. What impact has your own ethnic or cultural background had on your daily life? According to the chapter 1 genetic factors play a role and psychological adjustment and effective behavior, biology is not destiny. One ethnic or cultural background is impacted on my daily life is environmental. When I was a child, my mother who was raised in the south, would often tell me to take my hands out of my pockets when we would walk into a store. I finally asked her in my teenage years, “why do I have to take my hands out of my pockets”. Her reason was fear, the workers from the store wouldn’t think I stole anything. I think her concern impacted my life, today I believe I’m still being watched when I go into a

THE IMPACT OF CULTURE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND HOW THIS CAN AFFECT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEN THE HEALTH CARE PROVIDER AND THE CLIENT

“Anxiety is the signal of danger which mobilizes the human organism’s resources at all levels of functioning in the interests of conservation, defense, and self- preservation.” (Anxiety 1) If a person suffers from anxiety there is a major loss of control and then an attempt to regain that control because of a fear that they have. Anxiety disorders are one of the most frequently occurring mental disorders in the United States. However, anxiety disorders are not only found in the United States. They are found throughout the world. They just happen to be most predominating in the United States. In this paper, I will be discussing the generalized anxiety disorder and how if effects society today.

Currently, Hispanics/Latinos are the largest and fastest growing minority group in the United States (Varela, Niditch, Hensley-Maloney, Moore, & Creveling, 2013). Approximately, 40% of the Hispanic population under the age of 18 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002). In addition, anxiety disorders and phobias are among the most prevalent psychological disorders that affect youth and do not abate (Bernstein, Borchardt, & Perwien, 1996; Flakierska-Prakin, Lindstroem, & Gillberg, 1997; Woodward & Fergusson, 2001). According to Pina and Silverman (2004), a high prevalence of about 2.6% to 4.7% of youth in the Hispanic population experience anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, a common theme among the literature surrounding this topic is the lack of comprehensive information on rates and treatment of anxiety symptoms experienced by youth who represent the Hispanic culture. As a result, many Hispanic youth are experiencing anxiety but are overlooked and, ultimately, untreated. Therefore, it is essential that research focus on tailoring psychological assessment and treatment to this population.

Mental health disorders remain continually disregarded in minority communities. Even more so, a few minority individuals report symptoms of mood disorders that are under-diagnosed as a result of cultural differences. (“Health Care Reform”, 2014.). This insufficiency in accurate mental health care diagnoses establishes a need to eradicate the differences in health care when it comes to treating minorities, as each group report different symptoms. Furthermore, these minority groups tend to be excluded from mainstream research as a result of lack of formal health care, including underreported visits to mental health facilities. Additionally, now there are more significant amounts of research,

Many cultural beliefs and values are held about mental illness and health in Americans of

The article Asian American Mental Health: What We Know And What We Don't Know by Stanley Sue was about Asian Americans and how they deal with their mental health. There are about 4% of Asians in the United States and because of this small percentage; it is hard for researchers to find people to help conclude their studies. What some have found out is that Asian Americans are offered mental health services but rarely use it. They find other ways such as asking their family for help or making an herbal remedy to help with their sickness. A researcher named Kuo has studies that show Asians are more depressed than Caucasians. According to a researcher named Leong the high depression rate is because Asians have problems with adjusting. I think what these researchers have studied is a great topic but it just needs more information. According to the article since it is such a low population of Asians in America it is hard to find people to do the research on. I think if they keep looking they can get more information about this topic.

Expectedly, Asian American students have a variety of mental health issues including problems centered on academia, interpersonal, health/substance abuse, and family difficulties (Schoen, 2005). However, the need for counseling services does not match the rate of utilization among this population due to the stigma associated with receiving mental health services (Kim & Omizo, 2003). Studies show that less acculturated Asian Americans tend to have less favorable views on seeking mental health services than those who are more acculturated (Atkinson & Gim, 1989; Tata & Leong, 1994). Research on Asian Americans consistently show that Asian groups, including Asian American students, are likely to express depressive symptoms as somatic symptoms

Engaging into the importance of multicultural competence, awareness of such competency has become a significant necessity in the area of mental health, and various fields of psychology (Hayes, 2008). It is essential for a counselor to be multicultural competent in order to develop a therapeutic alliance with a client, while understanding their cultural identity. Therefore, culturally competent knowledge, attitudes, and skills of diverse culture, is necessary, in proper treatment and diagnosis. Nonetheless, the complexity of cultural diversity can contribute to challenges in assessment, diagnosis and or treatment. It is further understood; by understanding one’s social history, psychosocial history, presenting problems, along with other pertinent information regarding a cultural responsiveness in a diagnosis, and how it would be beneficial to individuals of various social, ethnic, and other minority groups in order to make a treatment plan based on the findings of a cultural assessment (Sue & Sue, 2013). Nonetheless, cultural influences, often neglected, are needed to incorporate the challenges cultural groups face when seeking treatment. Therefore, I have found it applicable to use “ADDRESSING,” framework in therapy as a resource for developing cultural and relevant assessments in addition to the onset symptoms presented in the client in the case study of Mrs. Hudson. The use of “ADDRESSING” acronym is designed to obtain age, developmental and physical disabilities

All cultures have differnet beliefs about mental health and how they precieve what causes the disorders, how it can be cured or treated, and who should be involved in the process. Western coutries such as the United States, which see mental disorders as a result of natural scientific phenomena, advocate medical treatments that combat neurological imbalance and/or the use technology to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. Other countries believe that mental illness is the result of supernatural phenomena and promote prayer or other spiritual interventions that counter the presumed disfavor of powerful forces. Some cultures might ignore seeking professional medical help because they believe

Culture has a great effect on attitudes toward therapy. According to the National Institution of Mental Health each individual or groups of people bring a variation of beliefs to the therapeutic setting such as communicating what issues to report, types of coping styles, social support, and cultural stigma towards mental health. More often it is culture that bears on whether or not an individual will seek help. For example there is a widespread tendency to stigmatize mental illness in Asian countries. People with mental illness are considered dangerous and create social distance and

Mental health illnesses affect everyone. It is highly prevalent affecting people of all ages, gender, cultures, and social groups. Attitudes towards mental health illnesses vary among individuals and often are highly influenced by the various cultures that the individuals identify with. Culture as a social concept can be defined as a set of norms, values, behaviours, and beliefs that are common and shared amongst a group of individuals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). Culture can be applicable to groups like Asians and Americans but also to groups of shared norms, beliefs, and values established within professions such as the culture of patients and practitioners. Culture provides these groups with structure and context to understanding their society and the world as a whole. Culture influence a wide range of aspects of mental health, including how mental health is perceived by the patient, how the patient will experience mental health stigma, and how they cope with symptoms of mental health illness. Additionally, these cultural influences impact the relationship between the patient and the practitioner in a number of ways.

Everyone with any mental health disorder always wonders if linkage of genetics is part of the disorder they have. People have said that risk of genetics being a factor in anxiety disorders is less likely to be a switch more than a problematic mix of genetics that can put a person at risk. Researchers have said that anxiety disorders can be due to hostile childhood experiences. Efforts to identify the specific DNA mutations to the heritability of anxiety disorders establish any independent, suspicious loci, but any genetic study for anxiety faces some obstacles also. The fine line between healthy and pathological anxiety is unclear, and the phenotypic and genetic barriers between scientific anxiety disorders

Also the retest-reliability of the Interaction Anxiousness Scale (IAS; Leary, 1983) is .80. “The correlation coefficient of the IAS and Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD; Peng et al., 2004) is 0.66, whereas it is 0.29 for the Self-rating Anxiety Scale.” Although the IAS was very valid, it did not cover all factors of social anxiety of the Tibetan, Han, and Muslim college students in Qinghai Province. Another limitation was the stratified random sampling that they used in their study. Representations of this study are unclear because of this method of sampling is random and simple. This sampling method should be paired with other sampling methods to make this study more effective and representations more clear. A further limitation was time and capacity therefore limiting the researchers. They did not consider situational factors effect anxiety in their studies on the students. Furthermore they only studied students of Tibetan, Han, and Muslim ethnicity so the result may not be generalized to other

The goal of the research is to increase depression literacy, decrease stigma, and increase help-seeking knowledge and behavior in Latinos. Furthermore, the research evaluated a fotonovela which in Spanish-language culture makes them an effective vehicle for health promotion and health education. Since the small pamphlets can be traded among individuals, they possess an element of portability that traditional materials lack. Since the fotonovela concept is familiar to Hispanics and Latinos, regardless of age, health educators have used the fotonovela to focus in important health messages.