Why is mental health such a big issue in North America and the U.K. and not in less developed countries?

Question

Is it a need for mental health services that we can accommodate better than poorer countries? Or perhas the idea of mental health itself is more of a Northern concept. Has the environment in North American significantly contributed to the level of mental illness? Is North America facilitating an increase in needed mental healthcare, prescriptions and an overall ensurance that there will always be a mental health market?

Are there people in poorer countries that perhaps have just as many issues but do not have the means to deal with them? What kind of impact does the fast pace of North America have on mental illness as opposed to other countries that run 'slower'?

Answer 1

its all about the Benjamins ($$$) my friend

Answer 2

First a little story: Last week on the news there was a story about a group of American soldiers in Iraq who discovered a mother in a house. She had a two-month-old baby with a serious, serious, life-threatening medical condition (her intestines were exposed). The soldiers kept going back to the house, eventually the one who was kind of leading the effort to help the mother and baby was killed, and the others eventually went through channels to get special permission to move the baby to the U.S., where she could get medical help. My first question in response to the story was this: Why on Earth did that mother have a baby in that condition in her house?!! In the U.S. a baby that sick would be in a hospital. Also, why couldn't they get that baby to a hospital in Iraq? Would a hospital there be unable to do something for the baby?

The above story pretty much sums up my guess as to why it may appear that mental health is talked about more often in North American and the U..K.

People in poorer countries are often found to have far more mental health issues than, say, Americans generally are. They just don't get the help for them.

As far as pace goes, some people would find it mentally destructive to live in at a slower pace than they do now. Some people feel alive and healthy by living fast-paced lives, and not all believe that a fast pace is a bad thing.

Answer 3

A great part of the mental health " business " in this and other Western countries is treating the " worried well ". Those that really need to give it a break. The mental health establishment has sold itself well; to people that can afford it. They have problems in these other countries, but they do not have the population of the " worried well " that will pay well for some diagnosis that relieves them of some responsibility for their lives. Our fast paced lives may contribute to stress,but I would imagine that living in the much slower Sudan is no stress reliever. Of course, those people are dealing with real problems.

Answer 4

(a) Developing countries have more pressing medical problems
(b) Saying that, it is not as if developing countries do not have mental health programs
(c) Mental health can affect anybody, anywhere. It was not "invented" in North America
(d) However, there is some truth in your comments about the environment in North America (or should I say, Western society generally) that contributes to mental illness. Over the last few generations the family has ceased to be the building block of society, for better or for worse. Nonexistent or unstable family ties are a precursor to depression. Notice that depression is worse in suburbia, not as bad as in the inner cities, and reasonably benign in rural areas.

Answer 5

In richer countries ppl. don't have to deal with basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and therefore (for better or worse) have time to focus on their mental health. In poorer countries where people don't even have one decent meal a day, mental health is, obviously, at the bottom of their priority list

Answer 6

Because people are closed minded, everyone should be entitled to do what the want as long as it doesn't hurt or infringe on others. It however goes both ways. This whole Ms. Cali thing with Hilton is a load of crap. The girl has an opinion on gay marriage and she's intitled to it, just because she isn't rooting for gay marriage doesn't make her a horrible person or ignorant. It goes back to what I was saying, you don't expect people to bash homosexuality then DON'T bash being straight. Equality, not one extreme or the other.

Answer 7

It is my understanding that there are many mental health concerns that are pretty much close to universal. They are just called a variety of names. Many developing countries do not follow the Western Standard American Psychatric Guide. Instead they follow regional adaptations to the W.H.O. mental health criterion.

Also in some cultures things we construct as symptomology. Things that take away from a person's ability to participate in scoiety here can be viewed as a strength. For example I remember reading about one group of people who attempted to trigger dissociative identity disorder in their spiritual leaders.

Symptomology is often very different. Much like gender differenences in how symptoms are often portrayed there are cultural differences too.

There is a really good (But old) article called "Being sane in an insane world" which is a critical deconstruction of North American Psychiatric services, you might be interested in it if you can get your hands on a copy.

Answer 8

There are more Psychologists/Psychiatrists here to treat mental health in more developed countries vs. less developed countries. Less-developed countries' inhabitants have just as many problems, but no/little Psychologists to deal with it, so they concentrate on the more pressing issues.

Answer 9

It IS a problem. It just isn't as commonly diagnosed there. There are less people living there to diagnose and treat it. Also the doctors may be less educated. Also many people in underdeveloped countries just don't go to the doctor for things like that.

Answer 10

In America, we have the luxury of being able to take the time to think about things we feel bad about. In developing countries, they need to fight just to exist. If you are always out there fighting to survive, you really don't have time to sit around and feel sorry for yourself.

Answer 11

Mental health issues are epidemic in our country, primarily due to the epidemic nature of child abuse in our country. Perhaps other countries have less child abuse, or lack mental health clinics.