Question

What are some evaluative comments about ethnopsychiatric systems, culture, emotion and mental health?

Answer 1

Ethnopsychiatric system deals with the study of mental illness with their classification, definition, causal reasons and treatment. It is useful for understanding emotions, behavior and specific perceptions linked to environmental situations. There are specific situations of mental ailments when a person self- harms or self-mutilates himself or herself according to the exposure to traumatic conditions in life.There are several harsh experiences which cause the emergence of disturbed personality and distortions in the brain. There should be development of effective communication and coordination to prevent the occurrence of mental ailments and disturbances. There are certain mental illness perceptions which are linked to the presence of evil spirits inside the body. These are the evaluative comments about the ethnopsychiatric systems, culture, emotions and mental health. There are different mental diseases which are present in people belonging to different ethnic background and cultural tradition as evident in the explanations given by AA Gadat, Hamdard University, Karachi, Pakistan. The mental disease prevalent in the Malay is characterized by acts of obscenity and running of people from one place to another after killing another people leading to a state of mental shock. Imu is a disease which is prevalent among old people living in Japan which is characterized by sudden fear after observing certain snakes, caterpillars or insects in the surroundings. These old people lose consciousness and tend to lose contact with real life situations present in the surroundings. Piblokto is a disease which is prevalent among people living in the Greenland and is called as Arctic hysteria. This disease is characterized in the form of four stages in which the people become social isolated, start tearing off their clothes, lose mental balance and undergo the stage of amnesia or loss of memory. There is feeling of convulsive tremors, seizures and state of coma leading to a state of mental shock. There is prevalence of whitiko psychosis which is marked by a state of depression and semi-stupor which is prevalent among people living in Northeastern American region and Canada. There is belief in shaman or the supernatural powers which is prevalent in the Mali region for driving out the evil spirits by the process of exorcism. There are traditional herbal therapies available for treating different types of infections caused by microorganisms like different species of bacteria.