Mental Illness and Health

Social Status and Health Generally, people belong to numerous social categories that influence and shape their life in different ways. These categories are based on obvious characteristics such as gender and racial background. Nonetheless, there are other less obvious characteristics that influence the identity and behavior of individuals. According to Douglas & Pacquiao (2010), there are 19 characteristics that collectively define one's social status. Based on the 19 categories, my social status can be defined as follows: Description Nomads Not Applicable People living outside of their country i.e.

refugees or immigrants Immigrant Indigenous group Non-indigenous 4 Nationality USA 5 Ethnicity Punjabi 6 Race Asian Indian 7 Religion Hindu 8 Gender Female 9 Education Undergraduate 10 Occupation Nurse 11 Sexual Orientation Heterosexual 12 Gender Identity Female (no abnormalities) 13 Immigrants Migrated from south India 14 Vulnerable Population Asian 15 Disability None 16 Variant or Subcultures Asian 17 Marital Status Married 18 Parental Status 3 children 19 Residency Location Urban In essence, I am a female American citizen of Indian origin, precisely from the Punjabi ethnic group.

Additionally, I am a Hindu by religion, heterosexually married with three children, and reside in an urban location in the U.S. Occupationally, I am a nurse with undergraduate qualifications. I do not have any disability whatsoever. As mentioned earlier, social categories shape one's life in one way or another. This is particularly true in terms of health status and health outcomes. For instance, some health conditions may be more prevalent in males or the uneducated compared to the general population.

One characteristic through which health disparities tend to be evident is culture. Culture generally denotes the deep-seated beliefs, values, customs, practices, and traditions shared by a given group of people (Napier et al., 2014). Though some individuals within a cultural group may behave differently, these norms generally influence how people within the group behave collectively. They influence how the group views different issues, including physical and psychological wellbeing (Napier et al., 2014). The influence of culture on health is particularly significant.

Culture commonly influences how individuals perceive the cause of illness and death, pain, treatment, as well as health promotion approaches. Some cultures, for instance, attribute illness to scientific phenomena, while others attribute it to supernatural phenomena. These differences ultimately create disparities in health status and outcomes (Napier et al., 2014). I belong to the Indian culture, which is generally characterized by some unique beliefs. For instance, Indians have a traditional system of healing known as Ayurveda.

Founded thousands of years ago, the system advocates for holistic wellbeing -- physically, spiritually, and mentally. This basically means that any illness originates from the three aspects, and its treatment must thus focus on the three areas. Additionally, Indians believe that illness is caused by Karma, a term that describes the consequences that befell an individual as a result of past actions. They believe in Karma despite full knowledge of the biological factors associated with illness.