Culture plays a significant role in shaping mental health by influencing how individuals understand, experience, express, and respond to psychological well-being and mental illness. It provides a framework of values, beliefs, norms, and practices that determine what is considered normal or abnormal behavior within a society. As a result, culture affects not only the prevalence and manifestation of mental health conditions but also attitudes toward help-seeking, diagnosis, and treatment. Cultural beliefs strongly influence the interpretation of mental distress. In some cultures, mental health problems may be understood in spiritual or religious terms, such as possession, divine punishment, or imbalance of supernatural forces, rather than as medical or psychological conditions. In other contexts, emotional suffering may be viewed as a natural response to social hardship rather than an individual disorder. These interpretations shape how symptoms are labeled and whether they are recognized as requiring professional intervention. For example, somatic complaints like headaches