Schizophrenia And Collectivist Cultures

One example of cultural influence to consider written diagnosing schizophrenia is religion. Spiritual and psychotic experiences can be difficult to separate and clinicians need to be aware that "non-pathological spiritual and religious struggles may seem to be manifestations of psychotic episodes" therefore cultural context should be taken into consideration. Religion and spirituality also play a significant role in treatment of schizophrenia for some cultures. Culturally Informed Therapy of Schizophrenia was developed as a way to make culturally appropriate adaptations to interventions so as to better serve a more diverse population, specially minority groups. Family collectivism, psychoeducation, spiritual coping, communication training, and problem solving are viewed through a cultural lens to incorporate cultural values in treatment. Studies have found Family Focused CIT-S and Group CIT-S to be beneficial in reducing symptom severity for individuals with schizophrenia and provided an increased sense of support for family and community members affected by this disorder. These adaptations may be particularly valuable when working with individuals experiencing acculturation who may be struggling with balancing their host culture with their culture of origin. Culturally informed adaptations can help identify strengths and resources for racial and ethnic minorities specific to a clients culture thus creating greater access to relevant and effective

Paranoia, hallucinations, emotional withdrawal - . fFor victims of schizophrenia everyday life is a strange and terrifying journey. Schizophrenia shatters people’s ability to feel, to communicate, to understand or interact with the everyday world. The symptoms represent what we know best about the disease however no one knows exactly why it strikes, who the next victim will be and how to reverse its life ruining effects.

Individuals with Schizophrenia typically use medications to treat his or her symptoms. This paper will examine one newspaper article about research conducted by scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health and three peer-reviewed journal articles. This will be done in order to investigate if Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) aids in minimizing symptoms of Schizophrenia more effectively with medication, without medication, and in combination with other therapy styles. These articles propose that CBT should be examined with caution in order to comprehend how it impacts Schizophrenic symptoms. The effectiveness of CBT and reduction of Schizophrenic symptoms could differ in each individual. This is due to numerous factors such as, socioeconomic status, gender, race, environment, family history, and exposure to drugs. It is important to be aware that with every scientific study that is conducted, there may be errors within the study. This may be due to how the data was collected.

An analysis of the validity, reliability, practicalities and ethical issues will be covered when referring to the diagnostic classification systems and lastly the demographics and statistics surrounding schizophrenia with reference to age, gender and ethnicity will be thoroughly examined

Biological, psychological, and sociocultural viewpoints have been developed in an attempt to explain schizophrenia. All three viewpoints point out various factors that may contribute to the development of the disorder.

Over the years, the scientific literature has shown that African-American patients are more likely than other racial groups to receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Determining the reasons for this disparity has been a challenging problem for researchers. The debate is centered on the question of whether or not African-Americans are truly more susceptible to schizophrenia than these other groups; conversely, the idea that African-Americans are simply being diagnosed at higher rates has persisted.

The Diagnostic Statistical Manual is used to diagnosis persons that are getting assessed with mental health disorders. The manual contains criteria the clinician can use to diagnosis a client. If the client meets a certain number of markers then they are given a diagnosis of a particular disorder. But, what if it’s not that easy? For African Americans, there has been a history of getting misdiagnosis by clinicians which has led to some mistrust. The cultural differences between African Americans and their white clinicians can possibly lead to the misdiagnosis of the clients. An article on clinician race states, “African Americans are less likely to be diagnosed with mood disorders and more likely to be be diagnosed with schizophrenia” (Adebimpe, 1981; Neighbors, 1997). Within this review, we will explore research conducted by scholars that examine the relationships between the diagnoses of African Americans by White Clinicians.

The focus of this paper is schizophrenia disorder among male inmate population. There are many unanswered questions about schizophrenia disorder in spite of countless studies. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) estimated the lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia to be between 0.3 - 0.7% (APA, 2013). Inmate population is chosen because psychotic experiences and behaviors often result in criminal charges. The prevalence of schizophrenia in the U.S. prisons is 2 - 6.5% (Prins, 2014). The male inmate population is selected because it constitutes the great majority (93.3%) of inmates (https://www.bop.gov), the incidence rate of negative symptoms is higher, and the duration of symptoms is longer among males (APA, 2013). Thus, examining appropriate assessments, treatments, and multicultural issues within this population presents great interest.

In addition, cultural relativism must be accounted for in assessments, to ensure that the patient’s social and cultural norms are considered during diagnosis. Harrison et al., (1997) found a higher incidence rate for schizophrenia amongst African-Caribbean groups than for their white counterparts. Whilst various social aspects, could be possible factors, a lack of understanding cultural differences could explain misdiagnosis. Cooper et al., (1972) found that Americans were twice as likely to diagnose schizophrenia as the British and this suggested that Americans had broader concepts of what schizophrenia is. Furthermore, Holmes (1994) found that decision trees, ensuring standardised questioning, brought about a higher correlation of results.

Childhood schizophrenia is one of several types of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a chronic psychological disorder that affects a person’s psychosis. Childhood schizophrenia is similar to adult schizophrenia, but it occurs earlier in life and has a profound impact on the attitude, behavior, and life. The child with schizophrenia may experience strange thoughts, strange feelings, and abnormal behaviors. Childhood schizophrenia is rare and difficult to diagnose in early phases.

The article is about group of individuals who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizophrenia is a chronic severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, behaves and feels. The participants were residents of a psychiatric hospital for more than 12 months. The objective of the study was to examine how these individuals would be able to connect, move forward and form relationships and the challenges they face in forming those relationships in their communities once they are released from the hospital. Ethnographic research: participant observer study is described as “the primary method used by anthropologists doing fieldwork. Fieldwork involves active looking, improving memory, informal interviewing, writing detailed field notes, and

Schizophrenia is a severe and persistent mental illness that crosses all racial, ethnic, cultural and demographic lines. The disease is found in all cultures throughout the world. Whether in Baltimore, Manila, or Rome the rate remains the same. According to (Kaplan, 1994) one percent is treated for schizophrenia in any one year. While it appears that schizophrenia is equally in men and women the two genders show several differences in onset and course of illness. Again according to (Kaplan) men seem to have the onset of illness from age 15 to 25 years. Women peak age of onset is 25 to 35 years.

What exactly is schizophrenia? “Schizo,” meaning split and “phrenia,” meaning mind, most people think it is just that. On the contrary, it is not a splitting of the mind, or personality, but rather a splitting from reality. This split is characterized by all sorts of delusions, hallucinations and inappropriate behaviors. Someone living with schizophrenia essentially lives in their very own private world. The term schizophrenia, however, does not refer to just one disorder but actually multiple disorders that are similar and different in their own ways. Schizophrenia is very complex and makes it hard to discern from what is and isn’t real.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder or illness that was first identified as an isolated behavior of madness without proper care. This medical illness has been around since 1751 when individuals were classified as “the most dangerous and disruptive lunatics” (Roccatagliata, 1986, pp.50-54). No one factor appears to be most significant in the origin of schizophrenia. It was not until nearly a century later when several physicians practiced productive research and therapy to show that this disorder can be treated and controlled so these individuals can live normal and productive lives (Heinrichs, 2001, pp.15-18).

Researchers Schwartz, Hilscher and Hayhow (2007) wanted to determine if other psychosocial impairments were associated with current drug abuse in patients with schizophrenia. They based their study on previous research that suggested that the substance use was caused by depression, side effects of medication and the effects of the psychotic symptoms in patients and also being a male. Schwartz et al. (2007) tested 223, majority Caucasian and minority African American patients, 18 years or older from a mental health agency. The clients were given psychiatric evaluations (medical, family and social history) and interviews using the Global Assessment of Functioning and Functional Assessment Rating scales to examine the severity of the substance abuse on clients with schizophrenia. These finding suggested that males were highly most likely to engage in substance abuse compared to females. Other predictor factors such as work/school