ABC of mental health: Mental health in a multiethnic society

People from ethnic minorities comprise just over three million people or 5.5% of the British population.Their geographical distribution is highly uneven, with most living in greater London, the West Midlands, and other metropolitan counties.Doctors in Britain increasingly encounter patients whose values and beliefs differ substantially from their own.Without a knowledge of other cultural beliefs and practices, doctors can easily fall prey to errors of diagnosis, resulting in inappropriate management and poor compliance.For example, a delusion is a false belief not amenable to reason and out of context with a person's cultural and religious beliefs: diagnosing someone as deluded must take into account cultural and religious factors.Culture refers to the categories, plans, and rules that people use to interpret their world and act purposefully within it.These rules are learned in childhood while growing up in society.Cultural factors relate to mental illness in several ways.In the first instance, culture determines what is seen as normal and abnormal within a given society.