Toward a more comprehensive medical anthropology: the case of adolescent psychopathology.
This article argues for a more comprehensive analytical approach in medical anthropology than is currently followed, one that combines attention to structural factors (political, economic, medical/psychiatric), experiential/symbolic expressions and meanings, and biological/bodily features of disorders. We show how subject matter that may be defined as "adolescent psychopathology" would be better understood by a comprehensive approach than by partial views. Three areas within adolescent psychopathology are chosen as illustrative: anorexia nervosa, dissociation, and social aggression. Each of these, like adolescence itself, is powerfully shaped by historical and contemporary cultural influences, and each implicates important theories in medical anthropology.
Fabrega
H
H
Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute, University of Pittsburgh, USA.
Miller
B D
BD
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D000883:Anthropology / Q000639:trends*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000639:trends*