User:Lgarmon4/Cross-cultural psychiatry

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Cross-cultural psychiatry is often linked to depression, anxiety, and trauma related mental disorders.

Depression is defined by Kleinman as, "a transitory mood or emotion experienced at various times by all individuals". Depression can be either severe or mild; depending on the severity of an individual's' depression, their symptoms may be more or less prominent. Each culture handles and experiences mental disorders extremely differently. In the African culture, dreams are one of the first signs of mental illness; whereas in the African-Indian culture, these dreams are considered typical. An individual within the Chinese culture may describe their earliest symptom as their heart being heavy or being weighed down. There are still many unanswered questions about depression and its link to different cultures, however, it is global knowledge that each culture deals with mental illnesses in various ways.

Anxiety is defined by Medline Plus as, "a feeling of fear, dread, or uneasiness". There are multiple types of anxiety, such as social anxiety, panic disorder, and, the most common, generalized anxiety. Different cultures express anxiety in ways various ways and overall can be treated differently. For example, Latinos relate anxiety to the feeling of being nervous, whereas in the Indian culture, anxiety is closely related to spirituality. Many cultures, including American, prescribe medications for anxiety disorders while others, such as the Indian culture, turn more towards faith healing and psychotherapy.

PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, is also a very common and differing mental illness throughout various cultures. As stated by the National Institute of Mental Health, PTSD is "a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event". PTSD is commonly found in war veterans because they experience flashbacks or nightmares from traumatizing events that happened. Because PTSD is a disorder that an individual directly experiences, it remains fairly consistent among different cultures.

Any person from any culture can experience each mental illness, however, the way they themselves and their culture view it and the way it gets treated is the main difference. There are many ways that these disorders can be treated, however, one culture's way to treat it may go against all beliefs of another culture.