Self systems, cultural idioms of distress, and the psycho-bodily consequences of childhood suffering.
In this article, I examine the effects of childhood suffering in two cases--one from my anthropological fieldwork in the central highlands of Sulawesi in Indonesia and one from my psychotherapeutic practice in Los Angeles. I argue that although people will always carry with them the psycho-bodily signature of their past social experience, these signatures are affected by the cultural idioms of distress into which they are woven and from which psycho-bodily attention is channeled and given meaning (or not). However, I also suggest that past social experiences are related to life trajectories in very complicated ways. For example, while the enactment of a cultural idiom of distress may help to resolve or give meaning to a form of illness or distress, it also may cause or exacerbate other forms of suffering--depending on how it is used and articulated by any given individual.
Hollan
Douglas
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Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, 341 Haines Hall, Box 951553, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553, USA. dhollan@anthro.ucla.edu
D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019455:Self Psychology; D012924:Social Conditions; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology