Psychiatry and the popular conception of possession among the Bangladeshis in London.
Two detailed case histories of young people possessed by spirits are presented to show that expressions of distress are shaped by cultural beliefs from the very inception. It stands in marked contrast to the Western psychiatric view of possession beliefs as cultural explanations offered for underlying pathological processes. This has serious implications for the practice of psychiatry in increasingly multi cultural societies.
Bose
R
R
Wellington Way Health Centre, Bow, London, UK.
D000293:Adolescent; D001459:Bangladesh; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D010268:Parapsychology; D011570:Psychiatry; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000208:ethnology