Psychopathology from an African Perspective (Tut 501 Flashcards
What is ethnocentrism
It’s the viewing and interpretation of the behavior of others through one’s own cultural background.
Define stereotype
Are fixed attitudes beliefs or opinions about people who belong to culture other than our own.
How are people different and what impact does it have
We are different from other cultures through research or everyday experience and interaction.
The consequence thereof can be negative when values like good bad right wrong superior inferior are attached to behavior that’s different from one’s own.
What are etics and emics
Etic refers to a universal truth or principle
Emic refers to truths that are culture specific
Discuss the universalist approach
Characterised as etic that assumes universally accepted definition of abnormality and methodology.
Essence of approach is the assumption of universal quality of the human psyche and that mental illness is universal so people are alike and require uniform treatment regardless of Thier racial and cultural background.
What problems are identified with the universalist approach
May detract from understanding of environmental influences and the unique motivation showing disregard for group in group and individual variability and the issue of labelling which stigmatising and stereotypes patients
What problems are identified with the universalist approach
Reliance on expression of subjective distress is problematic in that expressing and describing distress psychologically isn’t shared by every culture.
What is a valuable feature of cultural relativism
Is ability to challenge the presumed universality of standards which actually belong to one culture
Discuss the relativistic approach
Characterised as emic that assumes culturally relative definition of abnormality.
What value does cultural relativism hold
In trying to understand illness in different contexts relativists gain a full picture as possible of the meaning of the illness to the suffer in the context of the suffers own family community and spiritual background
What is one flaw of the relativistic approach
It often sees society as being stagnant and cultural groups as maintaining their meaning structure in a stable uncontaminated way ignoring the dynamic changing nature of the social world and that individuals can carry different internalisions of Thier culture
What other problems are found with relativism
No comparisons across context are possible as meaning differ in different places which can lead to knowledge being fragmented and hard to categorise.
Define culture
It is the sum total of ways of living including values beliefs sense of beauty language patterns of thinking Behavioural norms and styles of communication that a group of people have developed to assure Thier survival in a certain environment
State the possible explanations for the role of culture in psychopathology
- Psychosocial stressors may be specific to a certain culture. The wide use of stress as an explanatory construct for abnormal behavior may be related to a current crisis in community with widespread repression violence and social disruption. These stressors themselves aren’t pathogenic but become so in relation with other cultural elements and personal vulnerability
- A result of a combination of certain etiologic factors certain syndromes may occur frequently in one culture more than others
- The basic structure of disorders based on universal psychopathology reactions is universally the same the contents of the disorder being symptoms or overt manifestations is pathoplasticically shaped by culture.
- Culture defines what a community views as mentally disturbed behavior. Different communities have different expectations of mental illness
- Culture shapes attitude towards the mentally ill
State the possible explanations for the role of culture in psychopathology
- Culture provides models for interpretation and experience of illness and healing
- Psychopathology differs within as well as across cultures
- Conceptions of psychopathology differ Within culture especially in multicultural societies
- Cultural shifts can lead to prevalent forms of psychopathology in times of social change when people don’t know what norms to follow and have lost sense of meaning in life that culture provides
- Beliefs and perceptions become psychotic when they are at variance with the prevailing cultural norms