Cultural Awareness and Stigma in Mental Health

Culture and Stigma in Mental Health

• Psychiatric assessment needs to consider sociocultural factors to avoid misdiagnosis and perpetuation of stereotypes based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

• Cultural considerations in clinical practice include the individual's cultural identity, cultural explanations of their illness, cultural factors related to their psychosocial environment and functioning, and cultural elements of the relationship between the individual and the clinician.

• Cultural syndromes are clusters of co-occurring symptoms found in a specific cultural group, such as Ataque de Nervios among Latinos or Khyâl cap among Cambodian people.

• Cultural idioms of distress are linguistic terms specific to a cultural group that refer to shared concepts of pathology and ways of expressing distress, such as Kufungisisa in Zimbabwe.

• Cultural explanations or perceived causes are labels or attributions that provide culturally conceived etiology or cause for symptoms, illness, or distress, such as Maladi moun in Haiti or being sung/pointed with a bone in Aboriginal Australian culture.

• Psychotic symptoms and the expression of auditory verbal hallucinations vary across cultures, with visual hallucinations more common in developed countries and culturally sanctioned auditory verbal hallucinations among the Masai of Kenya.

• Stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs, and discrimination towards individuals with mental illness.

• Public stigma refers to stigma exhibited by the public, manifested in stereotyped attitudes and beliefs, prejudicial affective responses, and discriminatory behaviors.

• Structural stigma refers to ingrained stigma at the societal level, maintained by societal institutions through policy, law, and prescribed ideologies that restrict opportunities for particular groups.

• Individuals with mental illness are affected by multiple mechanisms of stigma, including perceived stigma, experienced stigma, anticipated stigma, and self-stigma.

• Effective approaches to stigma reduction include contact with individuals with mental illness and education about mental illness, but the wrong type of education can increase stigma.

• The MSPS Mental Ill-Health Stigma Lab is working on various projects related to stigma reduction, including a national stigma report card, a hearing voices project, and messaging interventions.MISTLab and Mental Health Interventions for BPD: Students, Strategy, and Learning Outcomes

• MISTLab is involved in strategy intervention trials for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the mental health system and relationships.

• The lab has had several students work on BPD research, including Kelton Hardingham, Beth Hobern, Jessica Westfold, Ellen Rankin, Emma Waldron, Mengie Cai, Alsa Wu, and Elise Carrote.

• The lab will have five Master's students in 2023.

• The learning outcomes of the lab include understanding cultural considerations in psychopathology and clinical practice, cultural syndromes and idioms, and how culture affects psychopathology.

• The lab also focuses on understanding and reducing stigma, identifying stigma processes, and the significance of stigma for individuals with lived experience.

• The University of Melbourne holds the copyright for the text.

• BPD is a mental illness characterized by intense and unstable emotions, impulsive behavior, and a distorted self-image.

• Borderline Personality Disorder is more commonly diagnosed in women than in men.

• The exact cause of BPD is unknown, but factors such as childhood trauma, genetics, and brain abnormalities may contribute to its development.

• Treatment for BPD can include therapy, medication, and hospitalization in severe cases.

• People with BPD may struggle with relationships, have a history of self-harm, and experience intense mood swings.

• Stigma surrounding mental illness can lead to discrimination, social exclusion, and a reluctance to seek treatment.

Culture and Stigma in Mental Health

• Psychiatric assessment needs to consider sociocultural factors to avoid misdiagnosis and perpetuation of stereotypes based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

• Cultural considerations in clinical practice include the individual's cultural identity, cultural explanations of their illness, cultural factors related to their psychosocial environment and functioning, and cultural elements of the relationship between the individual and the clinician.

• Cultural syndromes are clusters of co-occurring symptoms found in a specific cultural group, such as Ataque de Nervios among Latinos or Khyâl cap among Cambodian people.

• Cultural idioms of distress are linguistic terms specific to a cultural group that refer to shared concepts of pathology and ways of expressing distress, such as Kufungisisa in Zimbabwe.

• Cultural explanations or perceived causes are labels or attributions that provide culturally conceived etiology or cause for symptoms, illness, or distress, such as Maladi moun in Haiti or being sung/pointed with a bone in Aboriginal Australian culture.

• Psychotic symptoms and the expression of auditory verbal hallucinations vary across cultures, with visual hallucinations more common in developed countries and culturally sanctioned auditory verbal hallucinations among the Masai of Kenya.

• Stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs, and discrimination towards individuals with mental illness.

• Public stigma refers to stigma exhibited by the public, manifested in stereotyped attitudes and beliefs, prejudicial affective responses, and discriminatory behaviors.

• Structural stigma refers to ingrained stigma at the societal level, maintained by societal institutions through policy, law, and prescribed ideologies that restrict opportunities for particular groups.

• Individuals with mental illness are affected by multiple mechanisms of stigma, including perceived stigma, experienced stigma, anticipated stigma, and self-stigma.

• Effective approaches to stigma reduction include contact with individuals with mental illness and education about mental illness, but the wrong type of education can increase stigma.

• The MSPS Mental Ill-Health Stigma Lab is working on various projects related to stigma reduction, including a national stigma report card, a hearing voices project, and messaging interventions.MISTLab and Mental Health Interventions for BPD: Students, Strategy, and Learning Outcomes

• MISTLab is involved in strategy intervention trials for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the mental health system and relationships.

• The lab has had several students work on BPD research, including Kelton Hardingham, Beth Hobern, Jessica Westfold, Ellen Rankin, Emma Waldron, Mengie Cai, Alsa Wu, and Elise Carrote.

• The lab will have five Master's students in 2023.

• The learning outcomes of the lab include understanding cultural considerations in psychopathology and clinical practice, cultural syndromes and idioms, and how culture affects psychopathology.

• The lab also focuses on understanding and reducing stigma, identifying stigma processes, and the significance of stigma for individuals with lived experience.

• The University of Melbourne holds the copyright for the text.

• BPD is a mental illness characterized by intense and unstable emotions, impulsive behavior, and a distorted self-image.

• Borderline Personality Disorder is more commonly diagnosed in women than in men.

• The exact cause of BPD is unknown, but factors such as childhood trauma, genetics, and brain abnormalities may contribute to its development.

• Treatment for BPD can include therapy, medication, and hospitalization in severe cases.

• People with BPD may struggle with relationships, have a history of self-harm, and experience intense mood swings.

• Stigma surrounding mental illness can lead to discrimination, social exclusion, and a reluctance to seek treatment.

Culture and Stigma in Mental Health

• Psychiatric assessment needs to consider sociocultural factors to avoid misdiagnosis and perpetuation of stereotypes based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

• Cultural considerations in clinical practice include the individual's cultural identity, cultural explanations of their illness, cultural factors related to their psychosocial environment and functioning, and cultural elements of the relationship between the individual and the clinician.

• Cultural syndromes are clusters of co-occurring symptoms found in a specific cultural group, such as Ataque de Nervios among Latinos or Khyâl cap among Cambodian people.

• Cultural idioms of distress are linguistic terms specific to a cultural group that refer to shared concepts of pathology and ways of expressing distress, such as Kufungisisa in Zimbabwe.

• Cultural explanations or perceived causes are labels or attributions that provide culturally conceived etiology or cause for symptoms, illness, or distress, such as Maladi moun in Haiti or being sung/pointed with a bone in Aboriginal Australian culture.

• Psychotic symptoms and the expression of auditory verbal hallucinations vary across cultures, with visual hallucinations more common in developed countries and culturally sanctioned auditory verbal hallucinations among the Masai of Kenya.

• Stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs, and discrimination towards individuals with mental illness.

• Public stigma refers to stigma exhibited by the public, manifested in stereotyped attitudes and beliefs, prejudicial affective responses, and discriminatory behaviors.

• Structural stigma refers to ingrained stigma at the societal level, maintained by societal institutions through policy, law, and prescribed ideologies that restrict opportunities for particular groups.

• Individuals with mental illness are affected by multiple mechanisms of stigma, including perceived stigma, experienced stigma, anticipated stigma, and self-stigma.

• Effective approaches to stigma reduction include contact with individuals with mental illness and education about mental illness, but the wrong type of education can increase stigma.

• The MSPS Mental Ill-Health Stigma Lab is working on various projects related to stigma reduction, including a national stigma report card, a hearing voices project, and messaging interventions.MISTLab and Mental Health Interventions for BPD: Students, Strategy, and Learning Outcomes

• MISTLab is involved in strategy intervention trials for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the mental health system and relationships.

• The lab has had several students work on BPD research, including Kelton Hardingham, Beth Hobern, Jessica Westfold, Ellen Rankin, Emma Waldron, Mengie Cai, Alsa Wu, and Elise Carrote.

• The lab will have five Master's students in 2023.

• The learning outcomes of the lab include understanding cultural considerations in psychopathology and clinical practice, cultural syndromes and idioms, and how culture affects psychopathology.

• The lab also focuses on understanding and reducing stigma, identifying stigma processes, and the significance of stigma for individuals with lived experience.

• The University of Melbourne holds the copyright for the text.

• BPD is a mental illness characterized by intense and unstable emotions, impulsive behavior, and a distorted self-image.

• Borderline Personality Disorder is more commonly diagnosed in women than in men.

• The exact cause of BPD is unknown, but factors such as childhood trauma, genetics, and brain abnormalities may contribute to its development.

• Treatment for BPD can include therapy, medication, and hospitalization in severe cases.

• People with BPD may struggle with relationships, have a history of self-harm, and experience intense mood swings.

• Stigma surrounding mental illness can lead to discrimination, social exclusion, and a reluctance to seek treatment.