Cultural Manifestattions in mental disorders

This paper aimed to examine whether the mental disorders observed in the Western cultural context maintain the same clinical profile in different cultural contexts. This issue was explored in Cross-cultural Psychology and in Clinical Psychology. Our goal consists in understanding the impact of culture on the expression of symptoms in mental disorders, particularly in schizophrenia, depression and anxiety; along with cultural expressions of the meaning or signification of mental illness. We also examined the differences in the social and psychological effects of mental illness from one culture to another. Additionally, we analysed the problem of treating mental disorders in different cultural contexts. Our main conclusions consist in that culture expresses itself in symptoms of mental disorders, and the results of numerous studies emphasized the need for cultural adaptation of diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. It was also found that the culture of the mental patient determines the degree of his psychological and social suffering. Based on the above, we recommend that culture should be taken into account in all stages of mental illness, whether it is related to diagnosis or treatment.