Pathologies of the West: An Anthropology of Mental Illness in Europe and America

by Roland Littlewood

Book Overview

Psychiatry conventionally regards spirit possession and dramatic healing rituals in non-European societies as forms of abnormality if not mental illness. Roland Littlewood, a psychiatrist and social anthropologist, argues that it is necessary to take into account both social process and personal cultural meaning when explaining psychiatric illness and "deviant" behavior. Littlewood brings anthropological and psychiatric literature to bear on case...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801487439
• ISBN13: 9780801487439
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher