Psychosocial and Cultural Influences of Schizophrenia
The Concise Medical Dictionary defines Schizophrenia as a mental condition that depicts a breakdown of thought processes and poor emotional responsiveness. It is caused by a wide range of factors, including psychosocial and cultural factors. The first psychosocial factor is increased social deprivation. It includes matters related to employment, income, and education. Lack of these factors causes stress that psychologists believe triggers neurotransmitters’ changes, increasing the risk of Schizophrenia.
Secondly, increased population density increases the rate of schizophrenia conditions. Research conducted by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health showed that people living in highly populated and socially disorganized areas are at high risk of predicting the disorder (Sariaslan et al., 2014). Urbanization comes with many social issues such as crime that influences people to act strangely in their thinking, behavior, and perception.
Labeling theory is one of the cultural factors that psychologists believe predicts an increase in Schizophrenia. Labeling theory posits that people behave and act according to how other people in society label them. Therefore, when a person is labeled according to incredibly strange behavior, they start fulfilling the label and adopt it. The person eventually starts showing the effects of Schizophrenia.
Lastly, culture affects how society views people with Schizophrenia, how they seek medication, and how they describe the condition’s symptoms. Some cultures prefer describing only the emotional symptoms, others only the physical symptoms (Andrade, 2017). Essentially, people tell them according to their culture. Also, coping with the condition is culturally bound. Some cultures consult professionals such as psychologists while other traditional healers in society.
References
Andrade, S. (2017, April 16). Cultural influences on mental health. Retrieved from https://pha.berkeley.edu/2017/04/16/cultural-influences-on-mental-health/
Sariaslan, A., Larsson, H., D’Onofrio, B., Långström, N., Fazel, S., & Lichtenstein, P. (2014). Do population density and neighborhood deprivation predict Schizophrenia? A nationwide Swedish family-based study of 2.4 million individuals. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 41(2), 494-502. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbu105