Understanding Religion & Culture's Role in Mental Health Stigma

This essay examines the significant influence of religion and culture on the perception and treatment of mental health, highlighting how cultural beliefs and religious perspectives can contribute to stigma and impact access to mental health services. It discusses conditions like depression and schizophrenia, exploring therapeutic interventions such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), alongside medication options like Asendin and Chlorpromazine. The essay also references health programs in Scotland designed to improve mental health support and access to resources. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of addressing mental health stigma by considering cultural and religious contexts, advocating for the careful application of therapeutic interventions with community support and respect for diverse beliefs. Desklib offers a variety of study tools and resources, including similar essays and solved assignments, to aid students in their academic pursuits.

Understanding of mental health and mental
illness
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4
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INTRODUCTION
Mental health issues play an important role in assuring the well being of individuals. The
pandemic restrictions have made individuals as well as professionals realised that mental health
is an important aspect which has been ignored from long by people. This essay will discuss the
contribution or impact of religion and culture on stigmas related to mental health.
MAIN BODY
The culture plays an important role in affecting the way in which mental health is
perceived and treated. There are communities who do not consider depression or other mental
disorders as important. Thus a good portion of them lives with these disorders and is deprived of
required services. Religious beliefs related to care mechanism and thinking of individuals also
affect the treatment and access of mental health care services (Soklaridis and et.al., 2020). Most
people have stigma that mental health is only related with mood and is controllable by
individual. However, these stigmas have changed greatly after pandemic because people are
themselves experiencing the need of health professionals and necessity to assess their mental
health.
One of the key mental health conditions is depression in which individuals used to
persistently feel sad and does not have willingness to live or stay happy. Cognitive behavioural
therapy (CBT) consists of talking or communication therapy to manage the issues related to
thinking or behaviour. In treating depression CBT provide quick improvements in short duration
and help in focusing on re-training thoughts and behaviour (Smith and Applegate, 2018). Its
highly structure nature can make it applicable to different people or in format making it suitable
for various cultures. However, CBT may not be helpful for people with learning difficulties.
Also it does not consider the underlying childhood issues instead focus on only current
challenges. One of common medication of depression is Asendin (amoxoapine) which increases
norepinnephrine and serotonin level to manage depression.
Health programs for depression:
 Distress brief intervention program (DBI) is also an important framework to improve
response in people facing depression and distress. It makes it easy for people to connect
with mental health services. It is executed in four regions in Scotland facilitating the
cooperation between various local partners.
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 Another program for managing depression is ‘Good mental health for all’. This initiative
was developed by Scottish local authority convention and government. It links with
mental health strategy and aims at encouraging necessary actions for improving mental
health at community, local as well as national level.
Another health condition Schizophrenia affects relations, thinking ability as well as
decision making. Key therapeutic intervention for its management is assertive community
treatment (ACT) in which personalised health services are given to support struggles of daily life
so that individuals feel comfortable and safe. This therapy lowers the debilitating symptoms of
mental disorder and improves functioning. In addition to this chlorpromazine medication can be
used to treat the condition. This medication blocks postsynaptic dopamine receptors so that
psychotic symptoms can be lowered (Smith and Applegate, 2018).
Health programs for depression:
 In Scotland annual mental health strategy forum as well as lifelines Scotland programme
is implemented to ensure the access of mental health services and resources for people
dealing with depression.
 Scottish health purchasing information centres emphasis on improving drugs and services
related to Schizophrenia while Scottish intercollegiate guide network programs provides
guidelines for treatment and related interventions of Schizophrenia.
CONCLUSION
It can be also concluded from the above essay that mental health stigma must be
addressed and managed by effectively considering culture and religion. The therapeutic
interventions can be helpful in this context but they must be applied with due care and support of
communities and their beliefs.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Smith, R.A. and Applegate, A., 2018. Mental health stigma and communication and their
intersections with education. Communication Education, 67(3), pp.382-393.
Soklaridis, S. and et.al., 2020. Mental health interventions and supports during COVID-19 and
other medical pandemics: A rapid systematic review of the evidence. General hospital
psychiatry, 66, pp.133-146.
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