Cultural Differences: How Culture Can Affect Mental Health
Transcript:
Guest: Dr.
Stephen McLeod-Bryant – Psychiatry
& Behavioral Sciences
Host: Dr.
Linda Austin – Psychiatry
Dr. Linda Austin:
I’m Dr. Linda Austin. I’m
talking, today, with Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant, Associate Professor of
Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. McLeod-Bryant, one of your strong areas
of interest has been the impact of culture on the human brain and on
psychiatric illness, the development of psychiatric illness. You also have a very strong interest in
ethnic and racial diversity. And yet the
one thing that we, in this country, share is we’re Americans. And there are specifically American cultural
forces that are different than, say, what goes on in Ghana
or Kenya or Mexico or Japan. What are some of the cultural issues that we
face in America
that have a distinctive impact on psychiatric illness?
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: I think there are a number of factors. And it may not be fair to specifically label America
as a problem per se. But some of those
factors are consumerism, if you will, of modern society and, at least, the
perceived need of having to have and how, through the commercials that
we all see on the TV or the little pop-ups that come on the internet and so
forth, there is an attempt to try to develop a sense of need of things that one
has to pay for. Typically one has to
have a certain amount of resources to acquire, whereas in other societies, in
less developed societies, that sort of pressure, if you will, to have, may not
be as extreme; it may not be as pervasive.
So, one doesn’t get the same sense of
wanting, of being inadequate because you don’t have
the brand new flashy gizmo that your next-door neighbor has.
Dr. Linda Austin:
So, we are somewhat of an envy-driven culture then?
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: I think that’s a way of putting it. Another factor that seems to be of concern is
that our society is a much more individualistic society, where individual
pursuits of happiness, of liberty and so forth are a very high value here,
whereas in other societies, it’s more the communal good. And so people are more willing to, perhaps,
serve their fellow person as opposed to feeling upset that their particular
ideas are not pre-eminent amongst the group.
Dr. Linda Austin:
We see that with the migrant population who, when they earn money, talk
about sending it back to wherever they came from. They’re sending it back to their sisters or
their mothers, or whatever.
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: Right.
Or, the people who don’t understand that particular culture will just
look aghast at the number of people living in one particular room or small
home, and they’re just thinking it’s awful and whatnot, whereas, for the
individuals who are participating in that, they see it as being a way of
surviving and thriving and building their community. It’s not this concern about having one’s own
space as much as we have in our society.
Dr. Linda Austin:
And even that has really changed over the years. When I was a child, it was no big deal to
have a family home with one bathroom.
Now you never see a house, hardly, in middleclass suburbia with just one
bathroom.
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: Of course.
And they’re all full baths and there are multiple bedrooms and so forth
in the same home. So, I think that’s a
force that, in our culture, sort of drives America forward in terms of its
economy and so forth. But it clashes
with the values of folks coming from other societies and other cultures. And that disconnect as someone is trying to
grab a foothold here in America
and trying to succeed, that clash between one’s own values and the values of America,
that process of assimilating and acculturating can be a very difficult
one. Some folks make it and then some
folks, they may return to former cultures.
It’s one of the things we see in a lot of big
cities, sort of that notion of having an enclave, a “ghetto”, or a, you know, a
neighborhood where one is able to speak one’s own language, to hold onto one’s
own values, one’s acts of faith and so forth, as a way of surviving, of not
totally becoming lost in this foreign culture that is America to many people
who are immigrating here.
Dr. Linda Austin:
As you’re speaking, I’m thinking, well, we are human beings. Human
beings are mammals and we are primates.
And there are certain laws of biology about what causes stress, and
stress hormones, to primates and to mammals.
If you think about isolation, the isolation that may come from a highly
individuated, individually, driven culture, why might that take a toll on
mental health?
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: Well, it seems to be the case that we, as
mammals, as primates, developed or evolved over time to be social beings. That part of our sustenance is based on our
connecting with other human beings and getting reactions from other human
beings. Part of our being healthy is
having a sort of mirroring presence from other human beings, to let us know
that we’re more or less on par with what’s normal human behavior. If we’re left to our own devices, we can go
off into tangents and directions that are just not healthy. But by being social, by relating to one
another, whether it’s family, friends, other folks that we connect with, it
helps ground us, and I think it helps us to sort of modulate, perhaps, more
extreme emotions, feelings, thoughts that may occur.
I think of the example of a person who is
psychotic, who’s out on a city street corner, and is just sort of shouting at
the top of their lungs. Well, a lot of
folks, you know, they get kind of a little leary and they try to ignore them
and walk by them real quickly and this person keeps shouting at the top of
their lungs, whereas if somebody were to say to them, are you talking to me,
there’s a reaction there because they may not have been aware that they were
talking to unseen others. But, having
that human connection can sometimes help ground them and make them realize
that, I’m not behaving quite the way I should be out here on a city street.
Dr. Linda Austin:
How do you think that the emphasis on the possession of stuff, of
things, how does that impact mental health?
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: Well, to the extent that possessing a thing
is correlated with being happy or successful, that sort of thing, that tie
being made in commercials all the time, that substitute of the thing for the
less tangible things that actually do, generally, give long-lasting happiness
and peace, and all that sort of thing, the greater that those sorts of material
goods are substituted for that, and the more one buys into having those
material goods, as a way to fill up the emptiness inside, I think, is a vicious
cycle to remaining empty. All material
things, they break down. They fade
away. There’s a new, greater, better
gizmo that you have to get out there.
They don’t give that lasting happiness that having a soul mate or faith
in God, those sorts of things, which are much more lasting, that can give one a
better sense of mental health.
Dr. Linda Austin:
You get a bit of a high as long as it’s new. But nothing stays new forever.
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: That’s right.
Dr. Linda Austin:
Dr. McLeod-Bryant, thank you so much for talking with us today.
Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant: Thank you, Linda.
If you have any questions about the services
or programs offered at the Medical University of South
Carolina or if you would like to schedule an
appointment with one of our physicians, please call MUSC Health
Connection: (843) 792-1414.