Psychological disturbances across Cultures. Psychology Essay

    Psychological disturbances across Cultures
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Date   Weiten and McCann (2013) claim that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression are the three serious psychological disturbances that are identifiable in all cultures. What does research say about their prevalence across cultures? There is a common molecular mechanism and genetic basis for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as there is a genetic variant associated with multiple psychiatric diseases. Across the diverse cultures, the psychiatric conditions and psychological disturbances affect the same brain regions and this increases the risk of psychological disturbances.   The prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs) like bipolar disorder, and depression and other psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. The burden of CMDs is associated with social disability, ill-health, higher health service costs and use, which poses significant health problems (Ormel et al., 1994).  Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression are identifiable in all cultures, and differences are research prevalence across cultures, partly depends on presentation and culture.
There are cross-national differences in the prevalence of the common psychiatric disorders, but this may be related to diagnostic measures adopted, definition problems or the prevalence differences (Simon et al., 2002). For instance, international care survey studies show that the rates of current depressive disorder are highest in South America, and lowest in Asia.  At the same time, a high proportion of those with psychological disturbances go untreated and especially in non western societies, which may partly explain the prevalence of these disorders. Standardizing the diagnosis criteria for psychological disturbances whether using the DSM criteria or WHO classification, would provide insights on how deferens across cultures are linked with the diagnosis and measurement standards.
People with mental health disorders tend to over utilize the primary health care service and in most countries, for many people with schizophrenia, services occur for primary care (Ormel et al., 1994).  Depression and anxiety disorders have been linked with impairment in various life domains, but integrating essential mental health interventions in primary care improves treatment and m management of the mental disorders (Ormel et al., 1994). Studies on depression and bipolar disorder across cultures have highlighted that women are twice as likely to suffer depression as men (Weissman et al., 1996).   Even when those with psychiatric disturbances seek mental health services, there are differences in the ways comorbid disorders are assessed, and this may explain some of the differences in prevalence.
  People with schizophrenia may also suffer anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts and even as prevalence rates show similar patterns across countries, there are differences in how people treat people living such conditions. Sometimes there is ignorance and prejudices surrounding psychiatric disturbances, which increase the likelihood of rejection, isolation and negative stereotyping.  Versola-Russo (2006) reported th...