Cultural bias and diagnosis of schizophrenia Flashcards
Cultural interpretations of schizophrenia symptoms affect diagnosis of the disorder?
Some research shows that religious and cultural groups can have a marked effect on perceptions of schizophrenia, and what can be seen as ‘insane’ in one culture may be highly desirable in another.
Negative cultural attitudes to schizophrenia?
Psychological distress and mental health issues attract different levels of stigma in different cultures that will clearly affect the diagnosis of schizophrenia. This implies that without being diagnosed people with schizophrenia will continue to suffer needlessly and be unable to access effective therapy.
The culture/nationality of the clinician?
This can create reliability and validity issues when diagnosing SZ. For many reasons some nationalities diagnose SZ in very different ways. Although the US and the UK are similar in different respects, the US is far more likely to diagnose SZ.
Race discrimination?
Research has implied that some nationalities or countries have considerably more cases of SZ than the others. It is suggested that mental health professionals perceive diverse ethnic and cultural groups very differently and hence discriminate. This implies that to avoid misdiagnosis, clinicians should be mindful of subtle prejudices.
CULTURAL BIAS - Research evidence?
Research demonstrates cultural differences in diagnosis.
Malgady’s research showed that different cultures interpret symptoms of mental disorders in very unique ways. The research showed that in traditional Costa Rican culture hearing voices is interpreted as spirits talking to the individual, whereas in the US this is seen as a symptom of SZ. Clinicians should be aware of certain social expectations within a culture to avoid biases.
CULTURAL BIAS - Further supporting research?
Research has shown that the culture or nationality of the clinician is shown to affect the rate of diagnosis. Copeland found that when a description of a patient was given to 134 US and 194 UK psychologists, 69% of US diagnosed the patient with SZ whereas only 2% of British gave the same diagnosis. The difference shows the high rates of misdiagnosis due to cultural biases.
CULTURAL BIAS - Practical applications?
Strong PA has come from research into cultural biases of the diagnosis of SZ. Finding cultural biases allows for training of psychologists into the differences in interpretation of symptoms in cultures. This can improve diagnosis because clinicians are now more aware of what is considered abnormal in different cultures. This lends to an increase in correct diagnosis, which allows people to receive treatments.
CULTURAL BIAS - Symptom pool?
Studying culture allows us to come up with a symptom pool. This can be very beneficial for the validity of a diagnosis of SZ as it allows for differences in symptoms in cultures and means that cultural norms can be taken into consideration when a diagnosis is made.
