This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Giosan, C. Articles by Haslam, N. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Giosan, C. Articles by Haslam, N. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Lay Concept of ‘Mental Disorder’: A Cross-Cultural Study

Viviane Glovsky

Nick Haslam

New School University, New York

Lay concepts of ‘mental disorder’ were investigated in three countries (U.S.A., Romania and Brazil). Participants judged whether a sample of conditions – some falling inside and some outside the borders defined by DSM-IV – were mental disorders, and rated them on features invoked in professional understandings of ‘mental disorder.’ The concept of mental disorder was considerably more inclusive and convergent with the DSM-IV in the American sample than in the Brazilian sample, and disorder judgments showed only moderate agreement across cultures. Several features of the concept were culturally distinctive, amounting to a more ‘internalist’ or intrapsychic understanding in the American sample.

Key Words: Brazil • cultural differences • lay concepts • mental disorder • Romania

Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 38, No. 3, 317-332 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/136346150103800303


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?