Dear Christopher, 

Based on available research the answer to your main question is: Yes. 

Studying the mental health of a nation: a preliminary report on a population survey in Singapore. Fones CS, Kua EH, Ng TP, Ko SM

Singapore Medical Journal [1998, 39(6):251-255]

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used to estimate the point prevalence of minor psychiatric morbidity (MPM) in an area-probability sample drawn from different regions. Disproportionate quota sampling yielded approximately equal numbers of Chinese, Malays and Indians for inter-ethnic comparison. The General Health Questionnaire, 28-item version (GHQ-28) measured psychoemotional symptoms in 3,020 subjects aged between 13-65 years. The GHQ-28 was validated against ICD-10 psychiatric diagnoses derived from structured psychiatric interview with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

CONCLUSION: Two-staged methodology is an efficient, cost-effective approach to study population prevalence of mental illness. Screening instruments utilised should be validated specifically for the culture and setting. Information from population surveys of psychiatric morbidity are important for the planning of mental health services for the country.

Ian and Beatrice,

Thank you for your prompt replies.

Ian, I read the foundation trilogy when I was quite young and found it to be a most fascinating and inspiring work and I have often thought about re-reading it.

The detractors may do well to consider the fact that Asimov was a well respected scientist and logician not just a science fiction author.

Beatrice - so, it seems that the idea is not as new as I thought. I believe that the project to assess the relation between social and ideological structures and mental health to be of vital importance at this time.

Hi Christopher,

If you are looking for population data about mental health problems, i.e. morbidity, that's one thing and the GHQ-28 (along with others, such the SF series) can do this. If on the other hand you are looking for population data about mental health or wellbeing, that's another thing.  For the latter, you could explore using the The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): there is a highly accessed paper on development and UK validation by Tennent (2007) at: http://www.hqlo.com/content/5/1/63. 

It does not employ the same theoretical two-stage process that you describe, but it has been validated and is now implemented in the UK (perhaps not all regions, but in Scotland and NI) in governmental measures of health and wellbeing.

Hope that helps,

karen

Can a similar technique be used to assess the psychological health of a nation or culture?

Yes.

What sources could be used to substitute for the two sets of questions and their answers?

One can ask  a question by simulating an event pertaining the topic in such a way that society or nation becomes aware of and measure society's  response by following up the internet, chats, twits etc.

I also agree with Ian Proffitt on psychohistory.  It is a good reflection of society's growth and maturity pattern, even though history is not accurate.  History is full of list of achievements of leaders, kings, aristocrats, battles etc but very little about way of life, struggles, relationships with environment at family level and ordinary people. 

Another way is to measure its relationship to itself.  How they treat their own young generation (free eduction or competitive education or poor education), senior generation (family supported, socially supported, private support or no support) etc.

Chris, the recent field of Positive Psychology founded by Martin Seligman provides an interesting overlap with your question of psychological health. Positive psychology looks at the full range of the person's possibilities rather than only at the negative experiences. In terms of assessing/understanding cultures, he has had an interesting contract with the U.S. military, described in a chapter of his book, Flourish! It also is quite possible that some of his associates have looked at comparative national questions.

Adam, the form of history you're describing is political history, which used to be the dominant form, but about a hundred years ago many researchers became interested in social history and it became formalized. For example, the organization YIVO was created around 1925, supported by Einstein and others, which documented the Yiddish social culture and history of Eastern Europe. It was based in what is now Vilnius, Lithuania until 1940 and moved to New York where it thrives and sponsors many researchers looking at many interesting questions, writing books, and giving lectures. Like the desirable goals you described, it looks at the real everyday life of people. I myself am a member and am proud of their work. Link: www.yivoinstitute.org .

This is an interesting topic.  How do we measure the psychological health of a nation or culture?

I am interested in the generational impact of traumatic incidents on communities and means of identifying and impacting those issues.  Given the number of global traumatic incidents, we can look forward to impaired individuals,  families, and communities unless the health of communities and families are dealt with.

Yvonne, your question is a helpful one. You want to assess trauma and identify solutions that deal with the health of communities. In my opinion, both cultural process and personal counseling/healing process are needed to heal the wound. Culture can creatively place the trauma in a larger or new context (see attached essay) and personal services can illuminate a pathway forward for the individual. Some individuals can add to the culture through their explorations. These are the two complementary extremes of service.

Earlier, I mentioned Positive Psychology and its emphasis on flourishing. To this I can add the related concepts of resilience (maintaining status in the face of obstacles) and antifragileness (improvement following stress or trauma -- a concept developed by Nassim Taleb). 

National traumas can vary widely in nature, with different kinds of treatment necessary. These traumas can range from genocide or slavery to underclass status and restrictions. An interesting case is that of Estonia and the other former Soviet Republics, which had become acculturated to depending on state planning, with no role for individual initiative.

Douglas Wells wrote a book about Estonia (he went there as part of an early U.S. Peace Corps program around 1992) and described its internal tendency toward personal passivity in creating communal solutions following the arrival of freedom, resisting his supportive efforts and instead waiting for official programs to be developed instead of creating local initiatives. This paralysis slowly eroded and eventually gave way to healthy actions.

Herb

Herb, I appreciate your response.

I am interested in developing an initiative and theory related to effects of trauma on communities over time and ways to deal with those issues in from a trauma informed perspective.