Dear Shalini,

These resources may interest you:

• Cultural Aspects of Personality Disorder in The Oxford Handbook of Personality Disorders: 

"Personality disorders are Western clinical entities. Their classification is based on a concept of the self and on values that have evolved in Western societies. Personality disorders illustrate the process of medicalization of social behavior, which is spreading throughout the world. Nevertheless many of the behaviors described in personality disorder classifications are pan-cultural. Individual personality disorders, notably antisocial personality disorder, have been described in most cultures, but rates vary significantly. Higher order personality domains have a similar structure in different countries. Personality traits such as the Big Five appear to be reproducible across different societies. Evolutionary psychology suggests that this universality reflects a fundamental similarity of human interests in status and reproduction. Western cultures are largely individualist, encouraging people to be independent, autonomous, and to strive for personal goals. Other cultures are more collectivistic, encouraging interdependent and cooperative behaviors. There is reasonable evidence that the “goodness of fit” between an individual’s personality style and his or her society is associated with self-reported psychological distress. Immigration and modernization may therefore be associated with increasing rates of personality disorders, although the evidence about this association is mixed. More cross-cultural research on personality disorders would be helped by a classification system with fewer, simple behaviorally based domains. Assessment of cultural factors as part of personality disorder diagnoses is mandatory given the cultural relativism of the diagnoses. Personality disorders reflect the interplay between culture and social-historical concepts of personality as well as neurobiology and developmental processes."

• A systematic review of personality disorder, race and ethnicity: prevalence, aetiology and treatment

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2882360/

http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199735013.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199735013-e-13

http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199735013.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199735013

Here's one recent discussion: Diversity, culture, and personality disorders. By Rebeta, James L.

Beck, Aaron T. (Ed); Davis, Denise D. (Ed); Freeman, Arthur (Ed). (2015). Cognitive therapy of personality disorders, 3rd ed., (pp. 140-151). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press, xvii, 506 pp.

Personality and its disorder must be considered in light of relevant cultural perspectives if we wish to ensure that treatment is ethically framed and effectively delivered. Ascoli and colleagues (2011) aptly state that "the diagnosis of a Personality Disorder, as well as the very definition of what constitutes a 'normal personality' is entirely a cultural and social construct" (p. 53). They further contend, "Culture plays a role in the definition of the self, in the expectations on the orientation of the person (towards the individual or the social group) and in the definition of how a normal personality is constructed and expresses itself. The very difference between what is considered a normal or an abnormal personality depends on culture" (p. 53). This contextualization for anyone considered to have a personality disorder poses an even greater challenge than mere recommendation to attend to aspects of "diversity" in the patient-therapist relationship. Treatment for various symptoms or diagnoses of personality disorder is rarely discussed with emphasis on, or explanation of, any cultural limitations or influence. This chapter attempts to address these issues with further discussion of the assessment of culture and its meaning, how it can be used to inform the diagnosis of personality disorders and treatment planning, and ways to apply cognitive-behavioral interventions within a cultural framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Thank you so much dear researchers Dr. Cheung and Dr. Kemp. I am really very grateful for your valuable information. Thank You so much. My current concern is to study personality disorders in the cultural context and identify the cultural influences or differences if any.

Thank You so much.

See also: 

Article Culture and personality disorder: From a fragmented literatu...

Thank you so much dear colleagues for your valuable inputs and resources on the topic. Thanks a lot... dear Harshvardhan, Laurence and Monica...

yes of course culture will play a large part. ..many researches will support this claim. Allow me to share what we experience in the Philippines regarding mental health. I am from the Philippines and we have a diverse culture here. Firstly, compared to western paradigms we define our self in relation to our families. We see ourselves in relation to other people. Therefore, most of our distresses come from our relationship with others. Our social milieu  which is mainly composed of our family and relatives plays a significant part when we are face with distress.The support system from the family is very crucial whether or not a person will develop a full blown psychopathology. Secondly, 'psychotherapy' is a new term in the Philippines as this is also a western concept. When there is  distress, you don't expect people to see a psychologist, counselor, or psychiatrist.  Somehow, we still ascribed some of our mental health problems  as being caused by spirits or supernatural being. Thus, to alleviate the person's suffering, there are rituals done to appease these spirits. Sometimes, it is only when there is full blown psychopathology that a person consults a mental health professional.  Yes  culture plays a big part in the development and of course the type of treatment and intervention of abnormal personality functioning. 

Hope the helps. Best regards. 

Thank you so much Julie. The Indian scenario is very much similar to what happens in Philippines. .The same is the case in India. There is a lot of cultural diversity which makes it difficult to access patients of a particular disorder as in doifferent parts of the country variations can be found in termsof language for example.

Thanks for sharing your experiences

Hi  Shalini,

Yes, culture has played a huge role in what is a "personality disorder".  For example:  If a woman born and raised in the Republic of Korea (ROK), takes an MMPI 2 for Americans, the results will show her as having a severe borderline personality disorder.  The same is true for ROK people who come to the US and find they need mental health treatment.  They are faced with diagnoses of various mental illnesses by practitioners who are not familiar with the ROK, its culture, &/or its people. This is just one example of the cultural impact of psychiatric and personality diagnoses.  My point is that when you use the standards of one country to diagnose personality in another country, you will get inaccurate results because each culture determines its own "normalcy" levels for personalities.

The impact of culture is part of what determines one's reality.  For example: There are numerous cultures who believe in spirits (ghosts, revenants, poltergeists, & so on).  Many of these people are able to physically experience spirits.  Are they hallucinating?  If you take the literal Greek meaning: perception of something that no one else perceives, then possibly yes.  Are  they mentally ill?  It's unlikely because in their culture, it is a normal ability to perceive spirits--whether that perception be hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, & touching.  You get the point?

Matsumoto and Hwang have done a lot of research into the impact of culture on us... in which they discuss the differences culture brings to psychology, such as appropriate emotional expression and where emotions come from.  Although I do not believe they have ever looked specifically at that issue.  Despite my not finding any research they have done on personality disorders, because much of their research is cultural impact on psychological issues and subjects important to psychologists, you can extrapolate some of it for looking at cross-cultural impact on personality disorders.  Their research is available through Google Scholar.

I just took a few minutes to scan through the previous answers & agree with them.  Because the world has become so small due to immediate communication, cultures are changing faster than ever. The cultures within the United States are much like those in India and the Philippines, they each have their differences even while they have their similarities with our melting pot, which is what our mainstream culture is. With each culture that comes into the US and assimilates, we take on what we determine to be the best parts & blend it into a culture of the melting pot.  While those more closely aligned with the mainstream culture— African Americans, Euro-Americans, & Latina/os—fall into the standard Western idea of personality disorders found in the psychiatric diagnostic manual (DSM-V).  Even many of the Asian cultures have assimilated to some degree while remaining separate, too.

However, there are other cultures within the U.S. that are primarily ignored at this point.  They are our Native peoples.  A whole lot of dynamics go into the issues of Native vs Transplanted cultures.  The important thing is that what psychologists define as personality disorders is very often seen as something else, such as being touched by the spirits or not having a connection with the spirits, or “being as far from who you are as East is from West”, in a lot of our Native peoples.

I could go on and on. . . and on; but I imagine you only have so much time.  This is a  very interesting topic to me and, if you will, please RG message me when you have completed your research, or article.  I’m very interested in reading it!

I hope this helps.  Good luck!

Denise A.K. Goins

Dear Shalini, 

personality disorders in different parts of the world: 

Article Personality Disorders and the Five-Factor Model among French...

Article Prenatal origins of hospitalization for personality disorder...

Article Personality and Personality Disorders in Urban and Rural Afr...

Article Mood, anxiety, and personality disorders among first and sec...

Article Geographical and Temporal Variations in the Prevalence of Me...

Thank You so much Béatrice  for the valuablle resources...... These will help a lot in formulating a new research.

Thank you

- Disorders or changes of a personality result, generally, of a non adaptation of the person to the socio-cultural environment and the inadequacies of the pressures or demands of the means on individuals so that such adaptations are realized. The Society, for its part, too, does not manifest great interest in meeting the specific adaptation needs to the means. These conflicts: environment- society - individual - person are the essential causes of people´s psychosocial, emotional, sentimental and affective disorders. Therefore, personality disturbances or disorders of an individual are more effects of mechanisms of the environment and society than the product of psychogenetic actions of individuals.

Dear Denise A.K. Goins

Thank you so much for your valuable input on the topic

I am surprised to hear that how Korean people will be diagnosed more on bpd. Culture in India is different from US culture

I think more and more cross cultural studies should be planned on personality disorders

I think it's the time that we should come together and plan such studies

Dear all

Keeping this question in mind I have published a paper 'Culture and Borderline Personality Disorder in India'

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00714

Pl do refer to this paper

Thank you for your interest in the question I raised

All the best

You might also find the following resources of interest:

Ryder, A. G., Sunohara, M., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2015). Culture and personality disorder: from a fragmented literature to a contextually grounded alternative. Current opinion in psychiatry, 28(1), 40-45.

Paris, J., & Lis, E. (2013). Can sociocultural and historical mechanisms influence the development of borderline personality disorder?. Transcultural psychiatry, 50(1), 140-151.

Dear Dr Kirmayer

The first reference I already cited in most of my papers

Thank you so much for providing the second reference

Yes, I agree with Dr. Stephen Cheung