PSY/450 Diversity and Cultural
Factors in Psychology
Psychologists have typically defined “psychological
disorders… by some form of abnormal behavior or thought process, [however,]
abnormality can be difficult to define, especially since it varies from culture
to culture” (Psychological Disorder, 2001, p. 518). With that in mind, it is important to consider
that abnormal behavior is the subjective experiences of one’s culture, the
idioms of a person’s distress, the diagnoses, and treatment provided, and
finally the outcome of that treatment. Although,
according to Shiraev and Levy (2010), “Human beings develop ideas, establish behavioral
norms, and learn emotional responses according to a set of cultural
prescriptions” (p. 223). It is within
those cultural prescriptions that the parameters of psychopathology are defined
as adaptive or maladaptive, normal or abnormal.
Psychologists such as Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) were instrumental in the
early introspective and structuralism perspectives of psychology, helping to
establish psychological research on memory and the conscious experience. Thus focus on psychological disorders, such
as dissociative disorder that involve memory, consciousness, and identity
itself could be explored as to the affects human development and socialization
have on this type of disorder and the cultural impacts of such a disorder.
Dissociative Disorder
Seemingly triggered as a response to trauma or intolerable
situations (e.g., abuse) dissociative disorders are an interruption or
dissociation of a person’s consciousness (e.g., memory, identity, personal
history, or perception) and can take on many forms of such disruption (Spiegel,
Loewenstein, Lewis-Fernández, Sar, Simeon, Vermetten, Cardeña, & Dell,
2011):
Depersonalization
disorder is a recurrent feeling of detachment or distance from one’s own
body as though watching one’s self in a dream-like or intoxicated state
(DeepDriveAdmin, 2011). In some
individuals severe stress and trauma (e.g., motor vehicle accidents, verbal, emotional,
or sexual abuse) engage the human psychobiological survival system, flooding
the body with stress hormones causing adaptive depersonalization behaviors as a
result of the acute or chronic stress, thus the physical and emotional sensations
are avoided (Charney, 2004).
Dissociative amnesia,
unlike amnesia resulting from a blow to the head, can be localized, selective,
systematized, or generalized (DeepDriveAdmin, 2011). Localized amnesia involves a specific event
(e.g., car accident). Selective amnesia,
on the-other-hand, blocks only portions of an event; whereas, systematized
amnesia memory is lost for an entire category of information (e.g., an object,
or a person). As for generalized
amnesia, an entire lifetime is forgotten.
Dissociative fugue
is characterized by an unexpected physical leave of one’s surroundings to an
unknown destination lasting for several hours, days, or months (DeepDriveAdmin,
2011). People in a fugue state are able
to function and carry on normal conversations it is only when he or she are
trying to identify who or where he or she comes from the psychological disorder
is apparent. According to Shiraev and
Levy (2010) natural disasters, ethnic, or religious strife involving violence
could be a trigger of dissociative fugue.
Dissociative identity
disorder (DID) is “the presence of two or more distinct identities,” more
commonly known as multiple personalities (Spiegel, et. al., 2011, p. E32). However, with the exception of Dr. Corneila
Wilbur who witnessed 16 different personalities within one Sybil Dorsette (made
popular in the 1976 movie Sybil), “the
frequency of discernable personality ‘switching’ in a clinical setting is too
infrequent to allow for adequate diagnostic criterion” (Spiegel, et. al., 2011,
p. E32). Although, testing of identified
personalities confirms the reliability of a DID diagnosis without observing the
actual personality switch or shift itself.
The Affects of Human
Development and Socialization on Dissociative Disorder
From birth to death human development and
socialization shape how each person thinks, feels, and behaves. From what is known of dissociative disorder trauma,
fear, and stress overload the amygdala flooding the body with stress hormones
causing a disruption in normal processes and consciousness; a physiological
response to stress. “Socialization is
the process by which an individual… takes on [his or her cultures,] values and
behaviors,” thus it would be expected that dissociative behaviors would also
fall within these cultural boundaries (Shiraev & Levy, 2010, p. 196). To fully understand how someone’s development
and socialization affect his or her mental health it is important to understand
the idioms of a person’s distress. In
some instances dissociative disorder (DID) is explained culturally as a person
experiencing possession-related symptoms, thus diagnostic criterion allows for
such cultural considerations.
Regardless, the way in which someone describes his or her symptoms and
subjective experiences provide clinicians with the culture-based explanations
upon which to diagnosis one’s mental disorders.
Cultural Implications
of Dissociative Disorder
Because different cultural groups hold different views
on accepted and unaccepted behaviors, some dissociative symptoms may not be recognized
as a psychological disorder. As an
example, reincarnation is a central tenet of many religions, thus DID may be
seen as a manifestation of past life experiences and not a psychological
disorder of concern to be treated. In
addition, there are some cultural ceremonies that intentionally inflict pain to
induce out of body experiences such as those experienced in a depersonalized
state. On the-other-hand, individuals in
the U. S. with symptoms of dissociative disorder are considered to have
suffered some form of severe trauma; therefore, her or she are thought to be at
risk of additional complications to themselves and possible others if
intervention is not provided.
Conclusion
Psychological disorders that involve memory, consciousness,
and identity can impact an individual’s ability to affectively function within
his or her social structure, in most of these cases trauma or intolerable
stress is the cause. However, the idioms
of a person’s distress manifest based on “specific environmental, social, and
cultural contexts” in which he or she are raised (Shiraev & Levy, 2011, p.
225). As such the cultural impact of
psychological disorders, although symptomatically similar cross-culturally, must
be diagnosed and treated appropriately within an individual’s own cultural
context. Although, as cross-cultural
psychology expands throughout the world that context is becoming much broader.
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