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We understand people from collectivist cultures (Africa, Asia and South America) or migrants with a collectivist cultural background in many aspects. 
This includes the following characteristics and features:

1- What parents say, what people say

and how people judge an individual and his family all play a crucial role in collectivist cultures, such as Asian (including Arab), African and South American cultures. Even in childhood, when restrictions are imposed, we often heard: ‘What will people say about us?’. ‘Do you want to embarrass us in front of people?’ ‘Shame on you… Do you want to bring shame upon us?’. This judgement by other people often determines not only how one ought to behave, but also how one deals with mental health issues: one hides them and tries not to seek treatment until one’s suffer reaches its worst possible state; nor does one seek psychological therapy for fear of bringing shame upon oneself and one’s family.

2- Double suffering:

As a result, many people suffering from mental health issues who belong to collectivist cultures (such as those in Arab countries, Turkey, Iran, Kurdistan, African and South American nations, and similar societies) report the following:
‘No one understands the cause of my psychological distress (such as panic disorder, anxiety disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, nervousness, sleep disorders, eating disorders, jealousy, shyness, self-doubt, and so on). Even my parents or friends blame me and make me feel like a failure or inferior. This makes me feel even more ‘wrong’ and ‘sick’. They believe I am not trying hard enough. And I (in the case of adult patients) or my parents also feel afraid of what ‘people’ will say about me or about them. They see me or my parents as weak, incompetent or flawed. And that hurts more than the disorder itself. ‘One feels deeply ashamed and wants to hide away.’
Consequently, people with mental health disorders in collectivist cultures suffer in two ways: on the one hand, they cannot overcome their suffering through their own strength, despite making great efforts to do so (actually if they were able to resolve the conflict on their own, they would not have developed the disorder).
On the other hand, they suffer from fear and anxiety that others will condemn them or judge them and their families negatively because of their disorder, which damages their self-confidence, self-esteem and reputation. Consequently, the whole family may feel fear and anxiety about their reputation and social standing if one of its members suffers from a mental health condition. 

3- Impact on upbringing:

This cultural trait has a very strong influence on the behaviour of parents and adults, and it also has a decisive impact on their parenting style.
On the one hand, parents in collectivist cultures feel immense pride and show love when their children do things that bring them status and respect; on the other hand, they become extremely aggressive, sad, disappointed and resentful (withdrawing their love from the child and denying them attention and respect; sometimes for a long time) and so on, when their children do something that might cause them shame or humiliation.

4- Personality and Psychotherapy:

Personality develops through upbringing and the relationship between parents, the child and the surrounding community and culture. Unfortunately, however, in collectivist cultures there are few established approaches that take cultural specificities into account, whether in the field of psychotherapy or psychology, which examine the relationship between culture, parents, childhood and personality development from a psychodynamic psychological perspective.
Consequently, the question arises: how can we identify and understand disorders if we do not know how natural development proceeds in such cultural contexts?

Here we present a new approach

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