User:Gada2016/sandbox/Globalisation and Mental Health

Globalisation has challenged the issue in mental health population. There are several factors associated with globalisation that have mental health consequences. Globalisation could be defined as a process in which the traditional boundaries of culture are changing and societies are gradually and increasingly diminish. Whereas mental health could simply mean the level of psychological well-being and the absence of mental illness. The prevalence of mental illness is closely related to social, economic and cultural conditions. This process is changing the nature of human interaction in many spheres such economic, political, social, cultural, environmental and technological. The complex relationship between globalisation, health and mental well-being are only now beginning to be explored. Academic researchers have emphasised on the need for ‘a clearly defined research and policy agenda to respond to the presented challenges’.

Social processes associated with globalisation, such as employment pressures, migration, poverty, culture, and social change can be the risk or protective factors for disorders such as suicide, substance abuse, anti-social behaviour, anxiety, and depression. Academic literature commonly subdivides the relationship between globalisation and mental health into Migration and Culture, Identity, Economy and Financial, and Treatment and Intervention. Globalisation also has effects on the provision of health and social care to those with mental health problems, whether or not these have been generated by globalisation. Hence, it worthwhile to look at the impact of globalisation on improving treatment and practices for mental health globally.

Migration and Cuture
The impact of globalisation on mental health population has been evident in both developed and developing countries. The increased of migration into developed countries over the years has lead to high rates of migration-associated mental disorders. Socioeconomic changes and major life events have led to increases in rates of mental disorders in rapidly developing countries. As new communication methods emerged, people are exposed to different cultures. As a result of this radical changes in the way culture is defined and transmitted from place to place, there has been an increased in identity confusion among the young. Moreover, globalisation has transformed the dynamics of cultural symbols and concepts, for instance, the delineation between cultures is less defined than it has ever been. The relationship between migrants and non-migratory individuals in the global world is complex.

The process of acculturation influence individuals as they struggle to come to terms with collectivist orientations in their local culture, in the same way that migrants are exposed to acculturative stress when they reach the new country. Many of the stressors described by new migrants are identical to among individuals in low-income countries where they are exposed to the loss of social cohesion and social capital. The feeling of isolation from the prevalent cultural traditions present in many cases both among the migrant and non-migratory individual, particularly the young, outside the West. Previously insufficient safety nets, including extended family and religious communities for individuals who find themselves in distress. Anthropological literature on modernity have analysed recurring themes such as being uncertain and the feeling of alienation in a strange land experienced by the immigrants. There is an argument made on the globalisation study of mental health and social economic factor that there is a need to a re-evaluation of mental health policy in view of globalisation. There is a need to look further than current studies of migrants and to start addressing indigenous communities where modes of social experience and behaviour are changing.

Identity
Globalisation has created expectation and is changing the orientations of people. It has especially affected the young through educational and other institutions as well as through peer pressure, thus creating a culture conflict. New emerging global communication has allowed the spread of different ideas and beliefs across the globe. Individual and community tension occurred due to the differences between beliefs and the displacement of previously held ways of seeing and explaining the world. Furthermore, mode of communications such as the Internet, film and television are generating new ‘hybrid’ identities among the young. Young people are found to be forging identities to be a part of the global culture highly influenced by the Internet, music and television. Moreover, cultural hybridisation is believed to be a creative and liberating experience but the cultural empowerment of the locals is infrequently seen the same way, hence the two processes are difficult to disentangle and this phenomenon has led to identity confusion among individuals

Similarly, the simultaneous possession of a local (more traditional) and a global (more modern) identity may be a source of stress, especially in the young. People from the younger generation may be more susceptible to stress from growing up within this environment of cultural multiplicity and uncertainty, while the older individuals may experience a damaging sense of loss at the social and cultural changes being produced in the cost of globalisation.

Economy and Financial
Globalisation has contributed to instant communication, fast and efficient means of travel, a widened access to technology, cross-border cultural interaction and globalised approaches to environmental issues. The process has rapidly altered the societies through urbanisation, acculturation, modernisation, and social and cultural change. The quality of life in many countries is affected by economic disintegration, unequal distribution of collective wealth, social disruption, political repression, migration and even war. There is a widening gap between societies which value knowledge and technology and others which are unable to follow progress and self-actualization. In all countries, the development of technology has led to increased information on a range of health care services, resulting in increased demand. As more research conducted in the field of globalisation and mental health, more data are gathered on the relationship between psychological functioning and social inequalities in low and high-income countries. The relationship between income inequality, mental disorder and deprivation in the ‘developed’ and the ‘developing’ world needs to be explored.

In economic terms, the profound change in the social and psychological dimensions of work accompanying patterns of globalisation has been articulated in terms of the growth of an informal sector of employment. Informal sector of employment consists of low earnings, the absence of contracts, unstable working conditions, poor access to social services, low rates of union affiliation and growing levels of irregular and illegal labour. This trend has been visible in the growing prevalence of temporary and part-time workers within the global labour market. In 1997, regular full-time workers represented 69% of the total workforce in the USA. The majority of new jobs created between the years 1994 and 1998 were either part time or temporary. In Latin America, 47.9% of total urban employment was informal in nature, while in 1990 it had been 44.4%. This evidence leads us to the conclusion that the environment of employment both in developed and developing countries has shifted in a fundamental way.

Treatment and Intervention
There has been a significant improvement made in the development of both psychoactive medications and psychosocial therapies which has results in an effective treatment for many mental disorders. The globalisation of information technologies has allowed mental health professionals to exchange knowledge and experiences. It also allows groups of users and caregivers to become better informed. It is known the production and exchange of psychiatric knowledge is tied to political and economic issues, however, the role of the pharmaceutical industry in psychiatric research and education may impacted on the development of psychosocial interventions

An increased in ethnic and cultural diversity of mental health patients has led to a wider diversity of attitudes and beliefs concerning mental illness. While the increase ethnic and cultural diversity of service providers has led to a wider variety of approaches and beliefs concerning mental health care. Globalisation has contributed to an emphasis on the implementation of international protocols in psychiatric training, mental health policy and the protection of human rights of mental patients. It has also resulted into a thorough examination of the concept of social capital and its influence on the mental health of populations. The standard set by The World Psychiatry Association will ensure evidence-based psychiatry will result in better services even for poorer countries, by filtering out the unnecessary therapies and leave the essential parts for implementation in developing countries. This standard by WPA, the right application and practice to treat mental health should be all uniform if not equal to 'advocate for fair and equal treatment of the mentally ill, for social justice and equity for all, and to serve patients by providing the best therapy available consistent with accepted scientific knowledge and ethical principles’.

There are range of issues concerning mental health as a global disease burden. Issues including insufficient urgency, misinformation, and competing demands needs to be addressed. Policy-makers needs to start taking control of a situation as mental disorders figure are now among the leading causes of disease and disability in the world. Depressive disorders are already the fourth leading cause of the global disease burden. They are expected to rank second by 2020, behind ischaemic heart disease but ahead of all other diseases. The responsibility for action lies with governments. Currently, more than 40% of countries have no mental health policy and over 30% have no mental health programme. Around 25% of countries have no mental health legislation.

The extent of mental health burden is insufficient to matched by the size and effectiveness of the response if its demands. Currently, more than 33% of countries allocate less than 1% of their total health budgets to mental health, with another 33% spending just 1% of their budgets on mental health. A limited range of medicines is sufficient to treat most mental disorders. About 25% of countries do not have the three most commonly prescribed drugs used to treat schizophrenia, depression and epilepsy at the primary health care level. There is only one psychiatrist per 100 000 people in over half the countries in the world, and 40% of countries have less than one hospital bed reserved for mental disorders per 10 000 people.