Culture and Panic Disorder [Paperback]

Psychiatric classifications created in one culture may not be as universal as we assume, and it is difficult to determine the validity of a classification even in the culture in which it was created.Culture and Panic Disorderexplores how the psychiatric classification of panic disorder first emerged, how medical theories of this disorder have shifted through time, and whether or not panic disorder can actually be diagnosed across cultures.In this breakthrough volume a distinguished group of medical and psychological anthropologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and historians of science provide ethnographic insights as they investigate the presentation and generation of panic disorder in various cultures. The first available work with a focus on the historical and cross-cultural aspects of panic disorders, this book presents a fresh opportunity to reevaluate Western theories of panic that were formerly taken for granted.Culture and Panic Disorderexamines panic disorder across cultures, and throughout history, with contributions from leading scholars in anthropology, psychiatry, sociology, psychology, and the history of science. Culture and Panic Disorderis an intriguing look at how much culture and society matter in the realm of mental health.Culture and Panic Disorderis a must read for any who want to better understand the human psyche on a global scale. This important collection is more clinically relevant than available works, while remaining culturally astute. With its conscious inclusion and integration of historical framing and tracking, it is a valuable cross-cultural study. Is panic disorder a universal syndrome, invariant across time and culture? Or is it an idiom of distress, confined chiefly to contemporarypost-industrial civilization? Using the methods of psychiatry,anthropology, and history, contributors toCulture and Panic Disordershow that neither of these stark alternatives captures the full truth about panic. l3,