Ways Culture Affects Symptoms and Diagnosis of Mental Disorders

Theresa Byers, SID# 55876

PSY 116 Psychology of Gender

2). In what ways does culture affect the symptoms and diagnosis of mental disorders?

Culture has a big impact on the symptoms and diagnosis of mental disorders. Culture also plays a big part in the diagnosis according to the DSM system. Culture has to be excluded when diagnosing a patient especially when using the DSM system. Symptoms must include culture, but diagnosis must exclude culture.

Each culture had its own symptoms, but most are common among cultures including depression. The DSM system has to take culture in context for each culture they see. The psychiatrist that finished the DSM was predominately white, North American, males. This causes a gender bias in diagnosing a person using the DSM system. “The last edition of the DSM contains repeated warnings to clinicians to be sensitive to culture when making diagnoses” (Brannon, 2008). In the appendix of the DSM describes culture-bound syndromes, patterns of abnormal behavior that are unique to a specific cultural group.

Native Americans have a big culture in symptoms and diagnosis problems that clinicians must be sensitive to. Native Americans show culture-bound syndromes that include ghost sickness. Ghost sickness consists with the preoccupation with death or a specific deceased person. The symptoms include nightmares, anxiety, confusion, dizziness, and hallucinations. This only occurs with Native Americans and clinicians must be culturally sensitive in the diagnosis of this mental illness.

African Americans are about the same as Native Americans except there is a culture stigma in the culture of African Americans. “When comparing a diagnoses for

Theresa Byers, SID# 55876

PSY 116 Psychology of Gender

2). In what ways does culture affect the symptoms and diagnosis of mental disorders?

African Americans made by clinicians to diagnoses made by following a standardized assessment strictly, clinician bias became evident” (Brannon,...