Culture & Mental Health Flashcards
Cultural relativism
the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make judgments using the standards of one’s own culture.
Disorders can be understood only in…
the cultural framework w/in which they occur
Psychopathology
the scientific study of mental illness or disorders.
Psychological disorders that encompass behavioural, cognitive, and emotional aspects of functioning.
Define abnormal 3 ways
Using a statisical approach
- but not all rare behaviour is a mental disorder and vice versa.
Applying criteria of impairment/inefficiency, deviance, or subjective distress.
- Can be problematic; ADHD (child might not do well in private school but well in a public school, the individual doesn’t need to be changed but the context instead.)
Alternative approach - applying cultural relativism to abnormality.
- Limited – culture always change e.g. homosexuality being seen as a mental illness.
Cross-Cultural issues arise concerning… of psychological disorders
Reliability & validity of diagnoses
Diagnostic categories used
Classifications systems used for diagnosis:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
- Currently 300 disorders (2013, 5th edition).
- Very narrowed focused in terms of culture - but this has been worked on.
International classification of Diseases (ICD)
Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders (CCMD)
- Has culturally specific features.
- E.g. Pathological gambling is in DSM and not CCMD.
Cultural syndrome of distress
Patterns of symptoms that tend to cluster together for individuals in specific cultural groups, communities/contexts
Cultural idioms of distress
Ways that community and cultural groups communicate and express their distressing thoughts, behaviours and emotions
Cultural explanations of distress
What community and cultural groups believe is the cause of the distress, symptoms/illness
Tools used for CC assessment of Psychological disorders
Questionnaires, interview protocols, or standardised tasks requiring behavioural response.
Should reliably and validly
Schizophrenia
delusions and hallucinations, lack of motivation, social withdrawal, impaired memory, and dysregulated emotions.
CC research on schizophernia
World Health Organisation (WHO): sponsored International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia (IPSS)
- Universal symptoms: lack of insight; auditory and verbal hallucinations’ ideas of reference.
- Differences: course of illness more positive for patients in developing countries.
- Symptom manifestation also varies between countries.
Depression
a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest
physical, motivational, and emotional/behavioural changes.
CC research on depresison
Universally, women are more likely to experience depression than men.
1 in 5 women, 1 in 8 men.
Found in most countries.
WHO study of depression:
CC symptoms: “sadness, joylessness, anxiety, tension, lack of energy, loss of interest, loss of ability to concentrate, and ideas of insufficiency”.
Evidence for culturally specific symptoms due to variations in stress sources, coping mechanisms and mind/body relationship.
Cultural syndromes
Patterns of symptoms that cluster together for individuals in specific cultural groups, communities, or contexts.
Differential rates and courses of disorders across cultures suggest importance of culture in shaping expression of psychological disorders.
