The Stigma of Mental Illness in Asian Cultures

Abstract

The stigma of mental illness needs to be studied within its sociocultural context in order to understand its origins, meanings and consequences. It may be relevant to examine the indigenous concepts, experience and implications of psychological problems to address problems in mental health care relating to stigma.

Mental Illness and Families in Contemporary Hong Kong: an Ethnography of Mental Illness and Chinese Families in Hong Kong at the Time of Transition of Sovereignty

“…The researchers hypothesise that either knowledge of mental illness that was not captured in the study is more related to attitude or there is really a gap between the knowledge and acceptance of the mentally ill (Chou et ai., 1996). Ng (1997) supports the second hypothesis and explains that people are currently better informed about mental illness and seem to accept it like any other illnesses. Nevertheless, their feelings about persons with mental illnesses are not consistently shaped by this cognitive 139 i1Chapter Seven awareness.…”

“…It also can be attributed to hereditary or even ancestral inheritance of misconduct, so that traditionally the sufferer, and sometimes even siblings, are excluded from marriage. Common beliefs also include cosmological forces, the wrath of the gods and ancestors, possession by spirits, demons and foxes, hormones, diet, brain dysfunction, and even political ideology (Lamson, 1935;Ng, 1997).…”

Perceptions of mental illness among Muslim general practitioners in South Africa

“…According to Ng, [7] culture can often influence mental illness in terms of perception, conception, experience of symptoms, classification, treatment, recognition, labelling and the course of mental illness. This is particularly the case in the SA context, where supernatural, religious, magical and moralistic approaches to mental illness exist.…”

“…[5,7] It is therefore essential that GPs' perceptions of mental illness be explored, as they deal with patients from various cultures and religions and are well positioned to inform research on mental illness in SA.…”

Experiences of engaging in Archetypal Dreamwork

“…Also, the concept of archetypes itself has been shown to be culturally universal ( characters such as "the hero" or "the wise old man/woman). As such, the utilization of Archetypal Dreamwork could be especially useful to those persons from cultures in which there is a negative stigma attached to mental illness and which may prevent people from these cultures seeking help, such as people from Asia (Ng, 1997), Ghana (Barke, Nyarko, and Klecha, 2011), and Greece (Tzouvara & Papadopoulos, 2014). In such cases the stigma linked with reporting feeling depressed or anxious may be uncomfortable, but to engage in dream exploration would be acceptable.…”