Mind and Body Health | Page 21

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). This means that a lot of people in United States with schizophrenia are in psychiatric centers. But in other countries they are not as often hospitalized and instead get to live their normal daily life even during an episode of 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 the world. The real question is should we change the way we think or should they? I believe that we could learn something from other countries and how they see mental illness.

For schizophrenia hotlines and help click here.

Works Cited

“NAMI.” What Is Schizophrenia? | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-conditions/schizophrenia.

“Schizophrenia across Cultures.” Schizophrenia across Cultures | Progress In Mind, institute.progress.im/en/content/schizophrenia-across-cultures.

Watters, Ethan. Crazy like Us: the Globalization of the American Psyche. Free Press, 2011.