Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that makes it difficult to think clearly, manage emotions, and make decisions. People who have schizophrenia have a variety of symptoms including hallucinations (NAMI). These hallucinations may be auditory and or visual. What someone hears and sees changes a lot dependent on the affected individual and even cultures. It has been found that other countries experience schizophrenia auditory hallucinations much differently around the world. The reasons why this is true is still not understood, but there are many possible reasons that range from family units to the entire culture and how they view the disorder.
In the United States it is often believed that schizophrenia causes negative voices and negative actions result from this. But, this is not true all around the world. In Judeo-Christian cultures the voices heard are often from God. In Pakistan they are more likely to see ghosts of their friends or family members that have passed away. These voices have been described as playful or amusing, not disruptive and angry like they are often seen as in the US. In Britain the voices heard are often prosecuting voices similar to the US. One major difference between the United States and Britain is that people with schizophrenia in the US will often times view themselves as better than others. This is thought to be due to our culture's love for celebrities. Schizophrenia is also seen very differently around the world which may be another reason why the hallucinations change so much (Watters).
In third-world countries they have access to “western” medicine but choose not to use it or use it differently than we do. Along with our medicine comes our thought process. Zanzibar has access to antipsychotic medications, but they have not yet developed the idea that schizophrenia is caused by brain abnormalities and chemical imbalances. They instead believe in spirit possession and believe that the human consciousness is highly permeable to magical forces. These differences may change the entire disease. Hallucinations, identification, and even the outcome of the disease changes from culture to culture. Some researchers suggest the way people live could be at fault. In poorer nations everyone has demands and must meet them. But these demands are much easier to reach than those in the United States. They can do their jobs in other countries without fear of the hallucinations getting in the way, but in more developed countries there is less room for hallucinations. This causes the person with schizophrenia in more developed countries to feel overwhelmed and causes them more distress. Another possibility is that the belief that the disease is caused by spirits takes the weight off of those suffering and their families. They don’t feel the guilt and blame of having the disease. It has also been found that people living in densely populated areas were more likely to experience psychosis which is the first symptom of schizophrenia. Psychosis is when someone's thoughts and emotions are so impaired that they loose touch with reality (Watters).
The real cause behind the changes in the disorder are unknown, but a few things that are known is that those in poorer nations have more positive hallucinations and they have better outcomes. Those in developing countries often times have less periods of active hallucinations and overall have a better quality of life than those in developed nations like the United States. In the United States 40 percent diagnosed with schizophrenia were considered to be “severely impaired” compared to the 24 percent of patients in poorer nations (Schizophrenia).
Western medicine and thinking is often viewed as superior by those living in the United States. It is common to believe that those with schizophrenia should receive medical treatment. But, in other nations it is not viewed the same way. They do not have the social stigmas that we have and they do not have the same thought processes. In the end they suffer from the same disease diagnoses but it is a much different experience around
Brain Abnormality or Spirits?
By Courtney Valenze
Click Image to see brain abnormalities
Click image to see journal on spirit possession