PSYC 1030H Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Mental Disorder, The Confusion, Neurotransmitter
15 Jul 2014
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Document Summary
Dilemmas of definition: mental disorder as a violation of cultural standards, emphasizes roles and rules of culture, break rules= deviant, disturbed, normal for bereaved people to hear loved ones voice, north america consider this. Issue- many rules specific to a time or group abnormal, crazy - perfectly normal with chinese and hopi, other cultures: mental disorder as emotional distress. Standard reference manual used to diagnose mental disorders- diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. First edition published 1952 with 86 pages and 100 diagnoses, dsm-iv published 1994 with 900 pages and nearly 400 diagnoses. Some culture-bound syndromes understood as culturally permitted expressions of extreme psychological distress: latinos-episode of uncontrollable screaming, crying, agitation, malaysian men- violent, murderous outbursts, west africa- mental exhaustion due to excessive studying. Some disorders are universal, others are only culture-bound: bulimia occurs mainly in us, but anorexia found around the world, in history.
