Do Some Cultures Have Their Own Ways Of Going Mad? By Latif Nasser

People who believe they are mentally ill may go to a psychiatrist to be diagnosed and receive treatment. When the psychiatrist is trying to determine the patient’s illness he or she will consult the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which shortens to DSM. When the DSM on its way to up be upgraded to the DSM-5 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Latif Nasser wrote “Do Some Cultures Have Their Own Ways of Going Mad?”, Nasser looks at whether mental illness can be defined by culture or not. Nasser begins with some background on the DSM and how the APA will meet to revise the DSM as more studies discover information. The passage then leads into how the DSM is being updated and the task force is debating whether it should keep the cultural disorders in the book. As Nasser states, “...a culturally specific disorder dates back
Pow Meng Yap had problems diagnosing his patients because he was trained in Britain and the standard textbooks did not take into consideration that culture helps shape who we are, therefore it may affect how the same mental disorders appears in different cultures. It wasn’t until 1994 the DSM was reviewed and acquired an appendix where culture was considered in diagnoses. Nasser informs, “the appendix lists all manner of conditions specific to locales such as Iran, Haiti, Korea, and Mexico”, he shows us that a variety of cultures are now being represented. There are those of go against the belief of culture disorders Nasser mentions, “If underlying mental illness is universal, then what looks like a “culture-bound syndrome” is likely to be a common problem that happens to show up