I read something about this a couple of days ago and was thinking about it. How is mental illness viewed in your culture? Is it viewed as a medical problem or something else? How do people go about dealing with it?
Re: Views on mental illness in different cultures
It may view as under possession of Jin… 
Re: Views on mental illness in different cultures
I think this ^ view is quite common. My parents told me about a former neighbour of theirs back home that had epilepsy but went for years without treatment because the family didn’t view it as a medical issue but as jinn possession.
I once had a patient who was experiencing seizures but was under the impression that someone had done “black magic” on her and believed that was the cause. It didn’t help that the family believed that as well and was reluctant to go for the appropriate tests to figure out the actual cause.
Re: Views on mental illness in different cultures
There is a reason to this view (treating mental problem as possession by jinn).. Lack of medical facilities in these areas and people have ready access to people (fake babas / aamils) who put blame of all the things on dev / jinns. Not a single cousin of mine, who were not interested in their studies, could save themselves from getting comment from jijis / babas : iss per jinn / dev ka saya hai. I used to think : wadde aae shehzade gulfaam te hoor pariyan, sab per jinnat aashiq ho jate hain 