Ethnic Differences in Psychopathology

IT IS well known that the premises and symbols of a sociocultural group are reflected in the type of psychiatric symptoms that disturbed individuals display. The cognitive units of phobias and delusions, for example, naturally include the important concerns and ecological ingredients of the group. Unusual and striking behavior disorders (in both a social and psychological sense) that occur in various parts of the world have been described and salient features of these have been related to the background culture.¹³There is a tendency to view some of these disorders as both structurally equivalent and culturally patterned.²⁻⁵In other words, the categories and symptom clusters are thought to be common across cultures; but the specific behaviors contained in the symptoms are constant and peculiar to each cultural group, implying that the disorder may be learned. The unusual symptoms of other