Cross-cultural differences in the perception and understanding of obsessive-compulsive disorder in East Asian and Western cultures

ABSTRACT

This study investigated cultural differences in beliefs about the etiology and management of OCD. Participants were 428 individuals from 13 countries in North America, Western Europe and South Asia who completed a questionnaire about a hypothetical individual who experienced OCD. Principal components analysis of the questionnaire items identified four factors; comparison of the four subscales revealed significant cross-cultural differences in how participants viewed the individual with OCD and ideas about how to help someone with the disorder. Compared to individuals in the USA and Western Europe, participants in East Asia had a more negative view of the person with OCD, were more likely to blame the person, to consider the obsessions and compulsions to be part of the individual’s personality and to recommend that the person not seek help from others. Participants from East Asian countries also were more likely to recommend alternative therapies like acupuncture and taking herbal medicines. Participants from Western countries had a more favourable view of psychosocial influences and psychosocial interventions for these problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• OCD
• cross cultural
• beliefs about OCD

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Caroline Yang is a resident physician at the Brown Internal Medicine program in Providence, RI. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2017, and completed her undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), where she studied Neuroscience and Business. She was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, through which she designed and conducted this study on the cross-cultural perceptions and beliefs around Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In addition to clinical research, Caroline has great interest in advocacy, global and population health, and health technology/innovation.

Gerald Nestadt is the Rudolf and Evanne Hoehn-Saric Professor of anxiety and OCD Research at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Johns Hopkins OCD clinic. His academic focus is primarily on the genetics of OCD and the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in the general population. He has led both university-based and national collaborative groups studying the genetics of OCD. In addition to research endeavors, he has taught students and residents for the past thirty years.

Jack F. Samuels is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A psychiatric epidemiologist, his research has focused on the epidemiology and genetics of OCD, the epidemiology of hoarding, and the epidemiology of personality disorders.

Leonard A. Doerfler is Professor and Director of the Master of Arts Program in Clinical Counseling Psychology at Assumption College and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His research has focused on psychosocial models of anxiety, mood, and substance-use disorders in adults and adolescents. In addition to research activities, he has taught and supervised mental health counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for the past 30 years.

Additional information

Funding

Caroline Yang was awarded a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation to support her work on this study.