Raghavan, Raghu;
Brown, Brian;
Horne, Francesca;
Kamal, Sreedevi Ram;
Parameswaran, Uma;
Raghu, Ardra;
Wilson, Amanda;
... Dasan, Chandra; + view all
(2022)
Multiple Mental Health Literacies in a Traditional Temple Site in Kerala: The Intersection Between Beliefs, Spiritual and Healing Regimes.
Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry
10.1007/s11013-022-09800-6.
(In press).
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Abstract
The notion of 'mental health literacy' has been proposed as a way of improving mental health problem recognition, service utilisation and reducing stigma. Yet, the idea embodies a number of medical-model assumptions which are often at odds with diverse communities' spiritual traditions and local belief systems. Twenty participants were recruited to this study consisting of mental health service users (N = 7), family carers (N = 8) and community members (N = 5) in a temple town in Kerala, South India participated in semi-structured interviews exploring the variety of beliefs and practices relating to mental health. Our findings indicate that the issue may be better understood in terms of multiple mental health literacies which people deploy in different circumstances. Even those sceptical of traditional and spiritual approaches are knowledgeable about them, and the traditional practices themselves often involve detailed regimes of activities aimed at effecting an improvement in the person's mood or condition. Therefore, we argue it is appropriate to consider mental health literacy not as a unitary universal phenomenon but instead as a mosaic of different literacies which may be deployed in different settings and in line with different experiences and which may operate in synergy with each other to enable treatment but also facilitate a sense of meaning and purpose in life.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Multiple Mental Health Literacies in a Traditional Temple Site in Kerala: The Intersection Between Beliefs, Spiritual and Healing Regimes |
| Location: | Netherlands |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11013-022-09800-6 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-022-09800-6 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Culture, Meaning, Mental health literacy, Spiritual healing |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10152389 |
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