Paul,
You say:
"Isn't the further implication that the practitioners who treat '
individuals" perhaps attempting to treat a symptom when the cause is
institutional/cultural to begin with."
I couldn't have said it any better. Thank you. That's exactly why I brought
up the example of the two women of my study, whose psychologists encouraged
to focus on their own self, in line with the individualistic, person-centered
perspective.The unintended consequence was that by diverting these women's
attention away from others, psychotherapy underestimated the need for them to
learn or enhance their communication skills so they would be able to share
their deeply intimate and human feelings with another person, which is
crucial to every healthy relationship.
And Nate, you say:
"A recent article I read on ADHD mentioned now 5% of the world's population
is on ritalin, but over 80% of its consumption is in the United States."
If we believe, as individualistic psychologists and most physicians trained
in the medical model do, that behavioral problems originate from within the
individual, then we'll try to correct the individual with whatever it takes.
Conversely, if we make external attributions, then instead of blaming the
victim, we'll try to change the environment. I have lived in different
cultures where most of the time people look for external causes to explain
symptoms. I don't have the reference handy, but you may want to look into
literature in medical sociology regarding the trend in our culture to
medicalize "deviance." As soon as I can put my hand on that particular book
(I'm sorry, I don't remember the author), I'll be glad to give you the
reference and the pages that describe the history of ADHD, in particular. In
1993, I believe, the American Psychologist published a series of articles by
the NIH task force. One in particular, recommended to focus on the influence
of culture on some mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, following the
repeated finding that in developing countries, people diagnosed with
schizophrenia had not only periods of remission but
could also get cured of the symptoms, whereas no such thing has ever happened
in the western world. The main difference between these two worlds is that
while we label and tend to withdraw from people diagnosed with schizophrenia,
in these other cultures--precisely because people make external
attributions--people tend to refrain from labeling and do not withdraw their
social support from them. So, it looks like cultural psychology is badly
needed especially by those who make decisions about others' lives. And I
think you agree with that, don't you?
Doris.
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