The Impact of Cultural Beliefs on Mental Health: A World View From Selected Communities in Western Kenya

Abstract

Even though mental health is usually discussed from the western worldview, it has been existent in Kenya even before civilization. The main objective of this paper therefore is to assess the impact of cultural beliefs on mental health among some selected communities in Western Kenya. This paper was guided by the social psychology theory which posits that social influences, perception and interaction are vital in understanding social behavior. The paper adopted the descriptive survey design to present data thus studying the situation as it is in an attempt to explain it. The sampling techniques were Purposive which was used to select the specialists. The study instruments were interview schedule, Focus Group Discussion and documents review. The validity o the instruments were established through content validity by experts from MMUST. This paper established that cultural beliefs have both a negative and positive impact on mental health in the sense that anxiety and trauma from broken taboos and norms led to mental illness whereas the performance of rituals brought about peace and psychological contentment hence mental health. This article recommends that cultural beliefs which lead to mental health should be preserved for the same purpose.