Perceived Beliefs about Etiology of Mental Illness among Tribal Patients in India

Abstract

Introduction: Cultural dynamics play an important role in shaping the perceptions, beliefs and practices of people towards mental illness and its treatment. Cultural relativists mention that the explanation of mental illness cannot stay isolated from the individual’s social and cultural context. Every culture has its own way of explaining mental illness which is based on a set of beliefs and practices. Objective: To explore the perceived beliefs about the etiology of mental illness among the tribal patients visiting a psychiatric setup. Methods: The study has followed a qualitative method to achieve the objective. Qualitative content analysis has been used for data management and analysis. Results: The etiology of mental illness has been categorised into four types, i.e. stress, western physiology, non-western physiology and supernatural. Data shows that 44% (22) of patients reported, ‘stress’ as the main cause of mental illness whereas 40% (20) of the patients believe in the supernatural causes as the etiology. Conclusion: Supernatural beliefs are highly dominated on deciding the etiology of mental illness among the patients in this 21st century; which is required immediate actions and creating awareness to educate the people. Keywords: Beliefs, etiology, mental illness, tribal