Expert by experience as anthropologist within familiar culture

Mental Health Recovery through cultural awareness  Increasing tensions between an individual and his or her social surrounding can be the cause of a mental health crisis. These social tensions can be the reason for a mutual... [ view full abstract ]

Mental Health Recovery through cultural awareness 

Increasing tensions between an individual and his or her social surrounding can be the cause of a mental health crisis. These social tensions can be the reason for a mutual feeling of distrust. Becomming aware that harmonisation of personal values with the social accepted cultural values can contribute to the chance of complete recovery from the mental health crisis was in the end my door to complete recovery. Key is the knowledge about what culture fundamentaly is. Culture can be understood as the similar shape of our minds. We like to recognise each other. Thats why we copy our mutual social behavior. This is partially due to the common way we are raised; By watching the same TV programms, we share the same school system and communicate in a common language. The “fundamental knowledge” of culture is usually an implicit part of our being. Its where we are unaware of most of the time. Culture is something we are. Its so basic we hardly realise this. It unconsciously infuences the choices we make. To deviate from social values can instantly cause emotional responces and social stress. Sometimes this leads to agressive behavior. If no effort is shown in restoring behavior that reflects the accepted social values chances increase of mutual distrust. An expert by experience  in the end must become able to deal with these emotional responces by understanding that the people who stigmatise are doing so out of ingnorance of how implicit cultural rules create an emotional responce as a form of distrust to everything they don’t understand. This way you can learn to see that your misbehaviour in the past was the direct reason for the lack of trust you experienced after that.