Does contemporary Western culture play a role in mental disorders?

Abramov, Dimitri Marques; Peixoto, Paulo-de-Tarso de Castro

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.978860

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In contrast, Western cultures emphasise individualism, self-expression and personal freedom, which may contribute to a more open approach to discussing mental health issues. 49 As a result, Asian and Western countries showed different levels and incidences of anxiety disorders.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirty-year trends of anxiety disorders among adolescents based on the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study

Liu,

Yang,

Huang

et al. 2024

Gen Psych

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BackgroundAnxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric problems, affecting approximately 1 in 12 children and 1 in 4 adolescents. Understanding the incidence, burden and correlated risks of anxiety disorders among children and adolescents can help identify areas of success, stagnation and emerging threats, thereby facilitating effective improvement strategies.AimsTo estimate the incidence and burden trends of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents from 1990 to 2019 in 204 countries and compare the incidence and disease burden in different countries. To examine the association between anxiety disorders and social indicators (healthcare access and quality of life).MethodsData were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The age-standardised incidence rates (ASIRs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were reported to assess the burden of anxiety disorders, and the estimated annual percentage change was calculated to quantify the temporal trends. Pearson’s correlation was used to investigate country-level risk factors for incidence and DALYs.ResultsGlobally, there were 932 million incident cases of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents, 739.29 per 100 000 ASIRs and 380.62 million DALYs in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the estimated annual percentage change of incidence of anxiety disorders decreased by 2.2%. Significant variations were observed in the age-standardised burden rate and the changing trend of anxiety disorders among countries. Portugal reported the highest ASIR of anxiety disorders, while Mexico had the largest increase rate of ASIR. In 2019, Portugal reported the highest number of DALYs (1001.71 million), and India (212.09 million) reported the lowest number of DALYs. The burden of anxiety disorders was positively correlated with the average number of psychiatrists, psychologists and nurses in the mental health sector (per 100 000), and quality of life and the correlation coefficients were 0.58, 0.67, 0.43 and 0.53, respectively.ConclusionsThe incidence and global burden of anxiety disorders in adolescents have continued to decrease over the past 30 years. However, the incidence and disease burden in developed countries are still increasing steadily. Policymakers should design and implement mental health strategies for adolescents based on their specific developmental status, as well as the cultural and regional characteristics of each country.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirty-year trends of anxiety disorders among adolescents based on the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study

Liu,

Yang,

Huang

et al. 2024

Gen Psych

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“…The DSM has, for a long time, faced criticisms [ 58 ] that may be relevant in the field of student mental health. For one thing, concern has been expressed about the indiscriminate applicability of the DSM’s nosological system in different cultures [ 59 ]. Furthermore, mental disorders fall on a continuum, ranging from the experience of one or more symptoms of a mental disorder to a cluster of symptoms that may or may not meet full diagnostic criteria [ 60 ], highlighting the meaninglessness of the idea of a clinical cut-off point to clearly differentiate “illness” from “health”.…”

Section: The Need For a Balanced Public Mental Health Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anxious, Depressed, and Suicidal: Crisis Narratives in University Student Mental Health and the Need for a Balanced Approach to Student Wellness

Bantjes

Hunt

Stein

2023

IJERPH

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There is growing global awareness of the poor mental health of university students, as well as the need to improve students’ access to services and expand the range of available evidence-based interventions. However, a crisis narrative is emerging, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, that runs the risk of positioning all students as potential patients in need of formal psychiatric interventions. Our aim in this commentary is to critically present the evidence that supports increased attention to student mental health, while also raising a concern that the crisis narrative may itself have unintended harmful consequences. We highlight some of the potential dangers of overtly medicalizing and thus pathologizing students’ experiences of everyday distress, inadequacies of formal diagnostic categories, limitations of focusing narrowly on psychotherapeutic and psychiatric interventions, and the short-sightedness of downplaying key social determinants of students’ distress. We argue for an integrative and balanced public health approach that draws on the rigor of psychiatric epidemiology and the advances that have been made to identify evidence-based interventions for students, while simultaneously being mindful of the shortcomings and potential dangers of working narrowly within the paradigm of diagnostic labels and psychotherapeutic interventions.

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“…It is often stated that collectivism is associated with a reduced risk of depression and suicide; however, the underlying reality is more complex (Abramov and Peixoto, 2022 ). Initial studies of the link between cultural collectivism and depression did show a negative correlation between these two variables at the cross-national level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural collectivism, intimate partner violence, and women's mental health: An analysis of data from 151 countries

Rajkumar

2023

Front. Sociol.

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Culture, defined as the distinctive, learned beliefs and patterns of behavior that are particular to a given group or community, is a key determinant of mental health. The cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism, which measures the extent to which a given society accords importance to individuals as opposed to larger groups, has been associated with cross-national variations in mental health outcomes such as depression and suicide. However, this cultural dimension is also associated with variations in the frequency of intimate partner violence (IPV), which has a significant and sustained adverse impact on women's mental health. This study examines the relationships between individualism-collectivism, the frequency of IPV, and rates of depression and suicide in women, based on data from 151 countries. In this data set, IPV was significantly associated with age-standardized rates of depression and suicide in women, even after adjusting for demographic variables. Cultural collectivism was positively correlated with IPV, but this relationship was significantly influenced by national income and women's educational attainment. In multivariate analyses, IPV, but not cultural collectivism, remained significantly associated with depression in women. These results highlight the importance of screening for and addressing IPV in women seeking mental health care, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where cultural and economic factors may both increase the risk of IPV and delay or impede its reporting.

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Does contemporary Western culture play a role in mental disorders?

Cited by 5 publications

References 30 publications

Thirty-year trends of anxiety disorders among adolescents based on the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study

Thirty-year trends of anxiety disorders among adolescents based on the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study

Anxious, Depressed, and Suicidal: Crisis Narratives in University Student Mental Health and the Need for a Balanced Approach to Student Wellness

Cultural collectivism, intimate partner violence, and women's mental health: An analysis of data from 151 countries

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