How is culture important to the understanding of mental illnesses?
Australia is made up of people from very different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This diversity in culture and language can influence: • how people seek help • how mental illnesses are expressed • how a person’s symptoms are diagnosed and treated It is important that health clinicians are aware that both the clinician’s and the patient’s culture can affect (the understanding of) a mental illness. When looking at the mental health issues of different cultures or even within the same culture (e.g. Indigenous culture), it is important that the way people express emotion, thoughts and behaviours is understood. The clinician may need to decide whether the tools he or she uses to establish the presence of a mental illness are right for all their patients. If they decide that these screening tools are not correct for a particular person then a new set of guidelines for the tools needs to be created.
