Hindu Indian American conceptions of mental health

The Hindu Indian American community is an integral piece of America--contributing to the economy, diversity, and culture of the United States in many different ways. However, this community has rarely been studied, and evidence through the broader Asian American community shows that this population has been underutilizing mental health resources. Hinduism offers a perspective on psychology, mental health, and treatment that may offer insight into how to better engage this community. To this end, the present exploratory study used a qualitative research design based on grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2014) to investigate the attitudes of Average Hindu Americans, Hindu American Clergy, and Hindu American Mental Health Providers on mental health. Interviews were conducted with 6 participants in each of the three groups, with 18 total participants. Vignettes on schizophrenia and depression were used to assess how participants understood the illnesses; and differences in how they thought about friends and family, the vignette character, and themselves in relation to the illness were identified. Open ended questions were used to explore definitions of mental health and mental illness; conflicts felt between faith, psychology, and practice; and thoughts about barriers to treatment. Interviews were then analyzed to identify themes and important findings. Results indicated that participants in the Average Hindu American and Clergy groups showed more understanding of depression than schizophrenia, but were more likely to recommend help-seeking for schizophrenia than depression. The participants of these two groups were most likely to recommend help to the vignette character, less likely to recommend help to their friends and family, and least likely to seek help themselves. They defined mental health as balance, which aligns with Hindu views, but had disparate definitions of mental illness. They acknowledged stigma as a barrier for the community at large, but said they themselves did not seek help because they "didn't need it." Mental Health Professionals accurately assessed schizophrenia and depression, and uniformly recommended seeking help, though they showed more hesitation about seeking help themselves, an indication that this group also felt stigma. Overall, expressed conflict between Hinduism and ideas of mental health for Clergy was limited. Mental Health Professionals similarly expressed little conflict between Hinduism and professional practice. The Clergy demonstrated the most adherence to Hindu ideas of psychology. These findings have many implications for the training of mental health professionals who may work with Hindu Indian Americans, as well as for psychoeducational material that is created for better outreach to this community.Psy.D.Includes bibliographical reference