Mental illness is present in all societies, but its form and expression varies across cultures. Furthermore, what is considered healthy in one society may be viewed as pathological in another. For example, hearing voices of, seeing or communicating with dead relatives is viewed in Western Society as abnormal, while the same experience is regarded perfectly normal in some societies.
Not only are mental disorders perceived differently, but also, their symptoms and manifestations, and culture specific idioms of distress (the way people describe their "symptoms" and/or express their distress") vary across cultures. Understanding the language of distress from a cross cultural point of view, culturally competent diagnosis and treatment of mental illness are becoming increasingly important in societies such as Canada and the United States, where the main feature of society is cultural diversity.
Ironically, although the western population makes up only one sixth of the world's , western diagnostic framework has been historically regarded as an all encompassing standard for all mental illness, regardless of culture. Thus, diagnosis, treatment psychoanalytic theory and practice has been developed almost exclusively by white, middle class professionals whose words views are strongly linked to the western tradition of work ethic: progress and future orientation, rigid time tables, nuclear family structure, individualism, self reliance, importance o uniqueness and autonomy. However, this value system is not necessarily shared by other cultures and how people identify explain and communicate distress may differ considerably from one cultural group to another.
Relative orientation perspective of today's psychiatry and psychology strongly emphasizes the influence of such cultural, social and environmental factors. According to this perspective, depression, as a mental illness is a western construct, and as such, a culture specific disease to western society In fact, according to at least some experts, depression is-among other things- based on the belief in an individual's right to "pursue happiness and does not exist at least not in the same form in cultures that do not share the importance of individualism and self determination, therefore, depression an extreme state of "unhappiness" is "caused" by the individual's -unsuccessful- pursue of "happiness".
Furthermore, while defining and diagnosing depression in the western culture always includes the criteria that the condition causes "clinically significant distress or impairment of functioning", suffering, distress and sadness does not necessarily viewed as an impairment in other cultures, where "success" and "happiness" or "sadness" and "impairment" are not necessarily interchangeable terms.
Even if depression, as western society defines the disease does not exist, or at least, manifest in a very different way in other cultures there are a number of culture bound syndromes that resemble depression. The following list, (adapted from the DSM IV) includes commonly reported ones:
Mal de ojo (evil aye) or Mal ouchhio (Latin American, Latin Cultures of the Mediterrean)
Mal de Pelea (Puerto Rico)
Nervios (Latinos in the United States and Latin America)
Aataque de nervios (Nervous attack) Latin America and Latin Cultures of the Mediterrean)
Susto (fright, or soul loss)
Bran fag, or Brain fog (West Africa)
Zar (Northest Africa nd Southweset Asia, especially Egypt, Suydan, Somalia, Ethiopioa and Iran
Shejing shuairou- (neuroligal weakness, neurasthenia) Chinese
So, next time when you are wondering if you have got depression, consider that perhaps feeling sad or melancholy is not a disorder, but a perfectly normal reaction to your experience. On the other hand, if the sadness, melancholy, lack of motivation and other signs of distress are severe or prolonged seek whatever treatment or remedy might feel right to you, personally.
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