• What's Going On? Different cultural groups show varying rates of mental illness diagnosis.
• Example: Hispanics diagnosed with schizophrenia 1.5 times more often than Caucasians.
• Also: African Americans more frequently diagnosed with schizophrenia, substance abuse, and dementia.

Why is this happening? Three possibilities

• Genuine Differences: There may be real differences across cultures.
• Biased Judgment by Clinician: If the clinician has a bias, they may diagnose differently.
• Altered Patient Behavior: Patients may act differently in clinical context due to cultural differences.
• Real World Example: Think of it like different accents; people from different regions might pronounce words differently, but they are still speaking the same language.

• What is it? It's when people's behavior changes because they fear they'll fulfill a negative stereotype about their group.
• Study Example: Steele and Aronson found that stereotype threat made African-American subjects score lower on IQ tests.
• Psychiatric Diagnosis Implications: If patient and clinician are from different cultural backgrounds, the patient might unintentionally alter their behavior.

Think of it like a dance: If you're dancing with someone who has a different dancing style, you might change your moves to match theirs, even if you don't realize it!