Cultural Values, Traditions, And Perceptions Affect Treatment

For my ethnographic project, I wanted to understand more about modern culture and psychiatry in America and I thought comparing outcomes in America and other countries was the best way to go about this. I chose to focus on schizophrenia because of the amount of information available, and the neurological components that seem to make it a mental disorder which is found equally among all populations. Originally, I wanted to answer questions about how cultural values, traditions, and perceptions affect treatment, how they affect the way symptoms express themselves, how do they shape the recovery process, how they differ from American/western counterparts, if there is a difference in long-term outcomes, and if so, why. I began by researching†¦show more content†¦For example, a person with schizophrenia may hear voices others don t hear or might believe other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to hurt them. Negative symptoms are those which ar e present among people without the disorder, but are missing or deficient in those with schizophrenia. They include flat affect and emotion, poverty of speech, inability to experience pleasure, social withdrawal, and lack of motivation. Cognitive impairments (impaired executive functioning, apathy, memory impairment, poor concentration) are also core features of schizophrenia. The onset of symptoms usually occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood, although they can appear later in life as well. Because the level of cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia is so debilitating, many with the disorder experience a severely diminished quality of life and are unable to maintain employment, function socially, or live independently. In west, the accepted course of treatment for schizophrenia is antipsychotic medication along with cognitive therapy. Schizophrenia is often thought of as a mental illness that is universally the same because of it s neurological components. Howev er, like most mental illnesses, it is highly influenced by the context of the culture in which it arises. Culture can be defined as â€Å"shared symbols and meanings that people create in the process of social interaction.† (Jenkens and Barrett, 2004, pg. 5)