Thursday, October 13, 2011

Cross-cultural Psychopathology

Jack Dikian
October 2011

A few years I attended a conference where Anthony Marsella from the University of Hawaii at Manoa gave a fascinating talk. He was interweaving topics such as Global Challenges, Peace, Social Justice with Cultural psychology and psychopathology.

I remember being engrossed by the idea of Cultural Psychopathology. From a cross-cultural standpoint psychopathology is understood not only in terms of cognitive or physiological mechanisms, but also in terms of its social context and norms.

In addition, syndromes and folk illness can be considered within Culture-bound syndrome, culture-specific syndrome or folk illness. There are numerous combinations of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that are considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific society or culture.

The fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) classifies syndromes as culture-bound syndromes. Here is an extract.

Name

Geographical localization/populations

Running amok

Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore

ataque de nervios

Latinos

bilis, cólera

Latinos

bouffée délirante

West Africa and Haiti

brain fag

West African students

dhat syndrome

India

falling-out, blacking out

Southern United States and Caribbean

ghost sickness

American Indian

Hwabyeong

Korean

koro

Chinese and Malaysian populations in southeast Asia; Assam; occasionally in West

latah

Malaysia and Indonesia

locura

Latinos in the United States and Latin America

evil eye

Mediterranean; Hispanic populations

nervios

Latinos in the United States and Latin America

Piblokto

Arctic and subarctic Eskimo populations

Qigong psychotic reaction

Chinese

rootwork

African American and White populations in southern United States; Caribbean

sangue dormido

Portuguese populations in Cape Verde

shenjing shuairuo

Chinese

shenkui

Chinese

shinbyeong

Korean

spell

African American and White populations in the southern United States

susto

Latinos in the United States; Mexico, Central America and South America

taijin kyofusho

Japanese

zār

Ethiopia, Somalia, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, and other North African and Middle Eastern societies


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