Culture & Identity

Minds Matter Magazine Volume III Issue I Culture & Identity Minds Matter Magazine Volume III Issue I Culture & Identity
Traditional culture in the West Indies often
does not include conversations about mental
illness. For some, an overwhelming cultural
expectation to be easygoing leaves little
room for illnesses like depression or anxiety.
A 2012 study of inpatients in West
Indian hospitals found that 12 per cent of
inpatients needed psychiatric care, but that
only 1.5 per cent of hospital patients were
ever referred. The study found that one of
the primary reasons for the low rates were
doctors worrying that their patients would
be offended or stigmatized by a referral.
Once people leave the West Indies, it
may be harder to grasp the concepts of mental
health without associating it with cultural
stigma.
The following are a collection of
quotes from people still living in the Caribbean,
as well as first and second generation
Canadians with East Indian roots. All of those
interviewed struggle with some degree of
mental illness.
“It’s possible that the mental health services
for people in the (millennial) age group are
good in terms of care. Down here, a lot of
people with mental health problems tend to
be people a lot older on the streets who are
there because they went insane from drug
abuse.”
-16 year old, living in St. Vincent
“I think people down here are oblivious to
the fact that people down here may be mentally
unstable, because you don’t see a lot of
cases.”
-18 year old, living in St. Vincent
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“Crazy home pick me up.”
-18-year-old resident of mental health
facility, living in St. Vincent
“I needed support. I should be coping better,
but I didn’t ask for support.”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“Vow to not keep things from my parents,
but do it factually.”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“I’m pregnant now, and I know that I will
raise my child in a household where it is
okay to talk to a psychiatrist, it doesn’t mean
you’ve gone crazy.”
-31 year old, second generation Canadian
“Didn’t want to seem weak, like I couldn’t
manage my kids.”
-28 year old, first generation Canadian
“Being on medication was top secret. I took a
leave from work and did not tell my parents
until two months in. At first, my Mum was
angry that I didn’t inform her, but I think she
started to understand”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“Never used the words depression or anxiety,
because then it would seem too real.”
-19 year old, second generation Canadian
“It’s not episodic, I will struggle with this for
the rest of my life. It’s not over, and I think
they would like for it to just be over.”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“They have a better time accepting it when it
is associated with something else, like I was
starting my first year of university so it makes
sense for me to be anxious. They would
never acknowledge that I have a generalized
anxiety disorder, something doctors
diagnosed me with almost a year later.”
-22 year old, first generation Canadian
“Not warm and fuzzy like the parents of
other people I knew.”
-26 year old, second generation Canadian
“I softened the blow with telling my parents
by giving them articles. This had a dual
purpose - of showing them that other
people struggle like I do, and it’s not
something to be ashamed of. Mum Googled,
and gave them to my dad to read. The issue
now was their interpretation of the articles.”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“I tell my kids now they can ask for anything,
and tell me anything.”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“Being on top of my own daughter’s mental
health. I’ve taken her to every single person
under the sun. I don’t want her to spend 10
years of not knowing. She can openly talk
about her feelings.”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“I never thought the way I was feeling was
a real thing. I couldn’t tie it to one particular
instance in my life, and I think that’s why
my parents had a hard time grasping it. My
depression just came on hard and fast, and I
couldn’t say why.”
-31 year old, second generation Canadian
“I also didn’t need to be handled with child
gloves, I am still a functioning adult. Just
functioning with bipolar disorder. I think it
was hard for my family to group the two
together.”
-45 year old, first generation Canadian
“Lack of education surrounding mental
illness is a huge factor. I don’t blame my
parents for not understanding my depression
because I don’t think my mother even faced
her own depression.”
-28 year old, first generation Canadian
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