This is a difficult question to answer because there is not a right answer. The research of abnormal behavior supports both the universal and the cultural relativist approach. Firstly, the research shows that the studied mental illnesses are seen in all the cultures that were looked at. Depression, ADHD and Schizophrenia are all seen in different cultures. The World Health Organization conducted several studies, in 1973, 1979, and in 1981, and these studies showed that schizophrenia is seen across 9 countries of varying levels of social and economic standings. Depression is one of the most studied illnesses and WHO, as well as many others, have done studies that show depression is seen around the world. ADHD is a newer illness but it too has been shown to be seen across cultures. Research done by Polanczyk and others in 2007 shows that across the world, boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls. This shows that these, and other illnesses, are not bound to one culture or location. This strengthens the support for universal abnormal behavior. …show more content…
While there is support, there is also evidence that supports a cultural relativistic approach.
WHO did show that schizophrenia was seen around the world, but the duration of symptoms and the specific symptoms does change. Countries that are more developed have citizens who struggle with more symptoms and longer duration's than citizens in underdeveloped countries. This seems to show some form of cultural dependency. There have also been many studies that have shown that different countries express depressive tendencies in different ways and that treatment approaches differ as well. WHO also showed that the prevalence of depression varied greatly among cultures. While illnesses are cross-culturally relevant, the symptoms and duration do vary depending on cultures. This seems to show that while the source of abnormal behavior is universal, the actual abnormal behaviors that arise are culturally
dependent.
In understanding Relational Cultural Theory (RCT), we will first examine its fundamental assumptions and then critically assess those assumptions. Next, we will evaluate RCT’s assumptions to determine its relevance to the core values of social work. Finally, we will determine the ways RCT can best guide social work practice.
Chinese Revolution is about making the entire country into Communists and killing each and one the people who hates Mao Tse-Tung. Mao Tse-Tung is the leader of China at this time who believes in equality and everyone should have the same rights. The Red Guards is a military group in which includes a group of children that eliminates the Chinese population due to hatred for Mao. If any of these events happen to our generation, most youth are smart enough to know that Mao is a bad leader and killing innocent people by the case of bitterness for Mao is wrong. The Chinese youth got swept up in the Cultural Revolution by Mao because the youth were easy to persuade into doing something. To expand this idea further, the Chinese youth weren’t old enough, not on this specific age, to realize whether Mao’s actions were virtuous or inaccurate. On the other hand, they thought that working for Mao and joining the Red Guards will help their country out, but they never knew the truth behind Mao’s plans. The truth about the Cultural Revolution was to kill anybody that gets in the way of Mao’s plans and destroying all the old buildings so that it would be replaced with new buildings or reconstruct the old buildings to become brand new again. In addition, the Chinese youth had no idea that joining the Red Guards will give a highly chance of getting killed. In other words, the adults were smarter than the youth because joining the Red Guards means the opposite of helping the country out. Mao just made them think that joining will help their country, even though it was the other way around like someone apologizing to their neighbor in which manipulating their minds that they’re now cool, but they were still rude to them afterwards. To repeat this, t...
People who are in different societal groups measure health in different ways. Mental health affects people in developing countries in different ways because they look at different aspects of and compare different things. People in developing countries who have money and who are able to access the medical care are looked at to be at a higher social status. Medical care in these areas cost money, a lot of people who do not have the money are not able to access the support they would need to improve their mental health. Due to mental health being a topic that is rarely talked about it is also something that a lot of people suffer from but no one talks about because they are not able to get
The Asian cultures make up a large portion of the world’s population, so being able to understand their way of dealing with psychological disorders is important. The way most of the Asian cultures view mental illness is vastly different from how Western cultures view mental illness. In a study it showed that “Asian Americans show stronger implicit mental illness stigma compared to Caucasian Americans” (Cheon & Chiao, 2012). One reason for this is that in Asian cultures they are more likely to attribute mental illness with some type of supernatural cause. This could include punishments by god or ancestors that they did not please by bad behavior or they may believe mental illness could be a result of a possession by an evil spirit. These types of beliefs lead to a stronger stigma against mental illness in Asian cultures. Since they believe that it can be caused by ...
William, W. D. (2004). Culture and the risk of disease. British Medical Bulletin, 69, 21-31. doi: 10.1093/bmb/ldh020
If we look at the world today, there are millions of cultures centered everywhere. With this much cultures in the world, everyone is bound to believe that they’re all different. Even though they are different in some aspects, all of them are similar to each other in some way. So if this is the case, do we as human beings have the right to judge these cultures as ethically wrong or just a cultural difference? Cultural Relativism is the belief that we cannot judge the cultural practices of other societies and that we should let them do as they please. But if we cannot judge them, does it make it right when they threaten the lives of others? Through the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, we begin to have a deeper insight this idea of cultural relativism and the extent at which we should tolerate the cultural practices. The book follows Okonkwo, who is a socially popular warrior who wants to have the greatest title in the village to separate himself from his ‘weak’ father. The book goes in depth about the cultural practices of the Ibo people and what happens when missionaries come to the village to convert others. This brings up many different views on which we should decide to judge other cultures and when to interfere, and the answer is usually cultural relativism. However, cultural relativism can only keep the peace for so long before the people are forced to take action. Through cultural relativism, we should respect other cultural practices and beliefs until they threaten others by nullifying their rights. However, even though we should always find the most peaceful way to compromise with the little things, in life or death situations we must infringe the human rights in order to protect them.
The Secretariat. (2011). Global burden of mental disorders and the need for a comprehensive, coordinated response from health and social sectors at the country level . ().
v) You must include a list of references – at least three different works / sources must be used and referenced.
Culture, just like heredity, can also affect the way a patient behaves in a medical office. Various cultures have different perspectives on what causes illness and how the sick should go about the treatment process. For instance, Asians believe that illnesses stem from some supernatural phenomena and only prayers or other mystical interventions can cure them. Consequently, a patient from the Asian culture is unlikely to comply with medical treatment involving modern drugs and technologies.
Culture Relativism; what is it? Culture Relativism states that we cannot absolute say what is right and what is wrong because it all depends in the society we live in. James Rachels however, does not believe that we cannot absolute know that there is no right and wrong for the mere reason that cultures are different. Rachels as well believes that “certain basic values are common to all cultures.” I agree with Rachels in that culture relativism cannot assure us that there is no knowledge of what is right or wrong. I believe that different cultures must know what is right and what is wrong to do. Cultures are said to be different but if we look at them closely we can actually find that they are not so much different from one’s own culture. Religion for example is a right given to us and that many cultures around the world practices. Of course there are different types of religion but they all are worshipped and practice among the different culture.
Historiography has undergone many debates that stress and analyze historical writing in different ways. Over the years, three main approaches have been highly used. These are presented through the works of E.H. Carr, Paul Cohen, and Keith Windschuttle. By analyzing the issue of cultural relativism, I would have to identify with the approach presented by Kenneth Windschuttle.
Cultures also differ in their styles of communication, in the meaning of words and gestures, and even in what can be discussed regarding the body, health, and illness (Bohlman,2004). Cultural difference plays a role
Nearly all of mankind, at one point or another, spends a lot of time focusing on the question of how one can live a good human life. This question is approached in various ways and a variety of perspectives rise as a result. There are various ways to actually seek the necessary elements of a good human life. Some seek it through the reading of classic, contemporary, theological and philosophical texts while others seek it through experiences and lessons passed down from generations. As a result of this, beliefs on what is morally right and wrong, and if they have some impact on human flourishing, are quite debatable and subjective to ones own perspective. This makes determining morally significant practices or activities actually very difficult.
The practices of many cultures are varied from one another, considering we live in a diverse environment. For example, some cultures may be viewed as similar in comparison while others may have significant differences. The concept of Cultural Relativism can be best viewed as our ideas, morals, and decisions being dependent on the individual itself and how we have been culturally influenced. This leads to many conflict in where it prompts us to believe there is no objectivity when it comes to morality. Some questions pertaining to Cultural Relativism may consists of, “Are there universal truths of morality?” “Can we judge
The roles anthropology plays is that they responding to mental health issues is very crucial because they are the ones who can really observe, report , interpret and explain the world perspectives on mental illness. They can identify issues according to race, ethnicity, age, geography and socioeconomic status. Discovering this factor would allowed them to teach the world that every disease or mental illness isn’t the same. We see that depression exists universally, but the way it is understood, treated and experience is very different from culture to culture. For example it would be the preconceived ideas that all culture outside of the West believe depression is the same for every individual and the role of the anthropology is to remove