Schizophrenia And Collectivist Cultures

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

As the APA has moved from the Fourth Edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) to a reviewed and improved Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia were modified. The five subtypes (paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, residual) that previous version of DSM employed were excluded for its poor reliability and inability to predict the development and outcome of the disorder. DSM-5 no longer uses the subtypes of schizophrenia but rather focuses on clinical symptoms in the hope that it will help to get better understanding of the etiology of the disorder. It is now required that at least

Additional, inferences about the disorder are provided by Whitcomb and Merrell (2013). The authors characterize the symptoms of schizophrenia as delusions that are “typically bizarre and implausible” and pronounced hallucinations such as hearing voices for long periods of time (p. 363). Additional, impairments noted by the authors include “severe disturbances in perception, thought and affect, a severe decline in personal and social functioning, poor personal hygiene, inability to function effectively at school or work, and a severe impairment in social relationships” (Whitcomb and Merrell, 2013 p.363).

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.

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.

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

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that is characterized by a variety of symptoms and the disorganization of feeling and thought. It is an incurable disease whose causes are unknown, yet whose effects are mind and body crippling. (Young, 1988, p.13-14) This topic was chosen because it is interesting to study a disorder that worldwide, is viewed as a classic example of madness and insanity. Another reason of interest is because unlike many illnesses, schizophrenia doesn't have a noticeable pattern and its difficulty to be diagnosed as a disease makes the collection of statistics difficult. It is important to learn more about schizophrenia because a significant numbr of people are affected everyday

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.

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 universal mental illness which is both complex and devastating. Schizophrenia generally begins in the early stages of life and may lead to lifelong disabilities (Moritz, 2010). The context of this paper shall include an introduction on schizophrenia as well as the reasoning this discipline was chosen. It will include a critiqued research study that will explain how the research was presented. The primary focus on the research study will be a literature review, the methods used, the results found, and a presented discussion.