Social Psychiatry across Cultures: Studies from North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa / Edition 1

by Rumi Kato Price, Michele S. Trimarchi, Brent Mack Shea, Harsa N. Mookherjee

Overview

The World Health Organization's concept of health as "the condition of psychophysical and social well-being" must be translated into operational terms. The objective is to place the human person within the social system, given that mental health, mental illness, and suffering are individual, despite the fact that their causes are to be sought in the society and environment that surround and interact with the individual. One dimension that must be emphasized in this field is the contin­ uum that exists between social environment and cerebral development. This continuum consists of the physical and biological features of the two interacting systems: on one hand, the brain managed and controlled by the genetic program, and, on the other hand, the environment, be it natural or social. A simple dichotomy of individual and environment is no longer a sufficient concept in understanding the etiology of mental health and illness. Needless to say, socioepidemiological research in psychiatry and transcultural psychiatry is useful in reaching these ends. However, at the root of mental illness, one can always find the same causal elements: informational chaos, inadequate dietary intake, substance abuse, trauma, conditioning, and so on, which make the interactive systems dysfunctional. Subsequent organic and psychotic disorders occur to the detriment of both the individual and society. Current biological psychiatry is inadequately equipped in treating mental illness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306449710
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	06/30/1995
Series:	Topics in Social Psychiatry
Edition description:	1995
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Price, Rumi Kato, PhD, MPE (Washington Univ); Shea, Brent Mack, PhD (Sweet Briar Coll); Mookherjee, Harsha N., PhD (Tennessee Technological Univ)

The contributors represent the specialties of psychiatry, sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. Most are from universities and research institutions in the U.S., Nigeria, India, and Japan. Institutions prominently represented include Univ of Texas Health Science Ctr at San Antonio, Washington Univ, Univ of Nebraska, and Obafemi Awolo Univ in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Culture, Stratification, and Social Psychiatry.- I. Studies Across Cultures.- 1. Mentally Disturbed Patients in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects of Proper Rehabilitation.- 2. Alcoholism in the Czech and Slovak Republics in the Last 30 Years: An Uneasy Legacy for the Reformers.- 3. Psychoemotional Responses to the Existing Social Systems in Tribal Populations in India.- 4. The Amish Life-Style in an Era of Rapid Social Change.- 5. Reciprocity in Support Networks of Sheltered-Care Residents.- II. Stratification Studies.- 6. Ethnicity, Social Status, and Psychiatric Disorder in the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Survey.- 7. Sex Differences in the Relationship between Social Support and Mental Health.- 8. Urban/Rural Differences in the Structure and Consequences of Social Support.- III. Cultural Specificity and Universality.- 9. Afro-Surinamese Enthnopsychiatry: A Transcultural Approach.- 10. Family Composition, Birth Order, and Gender of Mexican Children in Psychological Treatment.- 11. Protective Factors for Drug Abuse: A Prospectus for a Japanese-U.S. Epidemiologic Study.- Conclusion: Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Social Psychiatry.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Patricia M. Meaden, PhD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: This volume takes a multidisciplinary, cross-cultural approach to conceptualizing unusual mental health problems and solutions embedded in non-Western and nontraditional Western societies. The chapters are written by indigenous authors describing the impact of unique cultural phenomena on the practice of psychiatry in their communities.
Purpose: The authors draw on the disciplines of anthropology and epidemiology/sociology to question the universality of Western paradigms in social psychiatry. In so doing, they hope to expand the methodologies of social psychiatry to provide practical, alternative definitions and solutions to mental health problems across cultures.
Audience: This book is a thought-provoking volume that challenges mental health practitioners, policy-makers, anthropologists, and epidemiologists to expand their approaches to problems in the mental health field. The authors are not well-known in the United States. However, their ability to describe research in their native countries to an English-speaking audience uniquely qualifies them for the purposes of this book. Each author contributes adequately to a distinct methodological viewpoint.
Features: The table of contents and index are particularly useful in a book with such a wide-ranging content. The charts and tables in the individual articles are clear and informative.
Assessment: The editors of this book have taken on an ambitious challenge: to find indigenous authors with non-Western approaches to research who are capable of communicating their ideas clearly in English to a Western audience. The introduction and conclusion are unnecessarily detailed and complex in describing the editors' purposes. However, the book as a whole succeeds in challenging the reader to explore alternative methodologies. Each author deftly presents the dilemmas encountered at the convergence of conflicting cultures. This book is a valuable contribution to the development of new paradigms in social psychiatry.

Doody's Review Service

Reviewer: Patricia M. Meaden, PhD(Rush University Medical Center)
Description: This volume takes a multidisciplinary, cross-cultural approach to conceptualizing unusual mental health problems and solutions embedded in non-Western and nontraditional Western societies. The chapters are written by indigenous authors describing the impact of unique cultural phenomena on the practice of psychiatry in their communities.
Purpose: The authors draw on the disciplines of anthropology and epidemiology/sociology to question the universality of Western paradigms in social psychiatry. In so doing, they hope to expand the methodologies of social psychiatry to provide practical, alternative definitions and solutions to mental health problems across cultures.
Audience: This book is a thought-provoking volume that challenges mental health practitioners, policy-makers, anthropologists, and epidemiologists to expand their approaches to problems in the mental health field. The authors are not well-known in the United States. However, their ability to describe research in their native countries to an English-speaking audience uniquely qualifies them for the purposes of this book. Each author contributes adequately to a distinct methodological viewpoint.
Features: The table of contents and index are particularly useful in a book with such a wide-ranging content. The charts and tables in the individual articles are clear and informative.
Assessment: The editors of this book have taken on an ambitious challenge: to find indigenous authors with non-Western approaches to research who are capable of communicating their ideas clearly in English to a Western audience. The introduction and conclusion are unnecessarily detailed and complex in describing the editors' purposes. However, the book as a whole succeeds in challenging the reader to explore alternative methodologies. Each author deftly presents the dilemmas encountered at the convergence of conflicting cultures. This book is a valuable contribution to the development of new paradigms in social psychiatry.

This volume takes a multidisciplinary, cross-cultural approach to conceptualizing unusual mental health problems and solutions embedded in non-Western and nontraditional Western societies. The chapters are written by indigenous authors describing the impact of unique cultural phenomena on the practice of psychiatry in their communities. The authors draw on the disciplines of anthropology and epidemiology/sociology to question the universality of Western paradigms in social psychiatry. In so doing, they hope to expand the methodologies of social psychiatry to provide practical, alternative definitions and solutions to mental health problems across cultures. This book is a thought-provoking volume that challenges mental health practitioners, policy-makers, anthropologists, and epidemiologists to expand their approaches to problems in the mental health field. The authors are not well-known in the United States. However, their ability to describe research in their native countries to an English-speaking audience uniquely qualifies them for the purposes of this book. Each author contributes adequately to a distinct methodological viewpoint. The table of contents and index are particularly useful in a book with such a wide-ranging content. The charts and tables in the individual articles are clear and informative. The editors of this book have taken on an ambitious challenge: to find indigenous authors with non-Western approaches to research who are capable of communicating their ideas clearly in English to a Western audience. The introduction and conclusion are unnecessarily detailed and complex in describing the editors' purposes. However, the book as a whole succeeds in challenging thereader to explore alternative methodologies. Each author deftly presents the dilemmas encountered at the convergence of conflicting cultures. This book is a valuable contribution to the development of new paradigms in social psychiatry.

Patricia M. Meaden

A compendium of recent works describing the association between cultural elements indigenous to a society and mental health and illness. Eleven papers, plus introductory and concluding articles, are grouped under three sections: studies across cultures, stratification studies, and cultural specificity and universality. Includes a concise history of social psychiatry in the West and a framework for relating the analytic approaches of universalist scientific social psychiatry to more heterodox approaches emphasizing cultural specificity and the importance of context. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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