Mental Health in India: Cultural Perception

Abstract

Culture plays a vital role in impacting our personality and psychological development. It is also culture that affects our perception about everything that exists within and outside it. Mental health is one of such things that is highly influenced by culture and the way it is perceived is highly denotative of the culture one is a part of. Indians, for example are still very conservative with respect to mental health. Apart from the metropolitan cities which show some progress in understanding and treating mental illnesses, there is no or very less awareness about mental health, psychological disorders and their treatment in the country. Experiences of stigma and discrimination are not uncommon for the people suffering from psychological disorders. People going through these have to deal with negative reactions from their own family members, neighbors, friends and colleagues which makes them either be in denial about the illness or not being able to disclose what they are going through, to anyone. This, in turn, leads to feelings of alienation and negative self image. Mental illness has also been found out to be one of the leading causes of suicides in India.