Commentary: deconstructing critiques on the internationalization of PTSD.
When PTSD entered the DSM, advocacy for the diagnosis was a critical part of advocacy for Vietnam veterans. Over the next two decades, the range of contexts in which this clinical concept was applied increased dramatically. In a recent article in Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Breslau (2004) describes PTSD as a "prominent cultural model" to account for suffering as well as the synergy between human rights or political advocacy and traumatic stress advocacy. In this article I question the sequence of steps that Breslau took to critique the internationalization of the PTSD construct. I also question Breslau's critique on our work in Nepal. Finally, I will formulate some future challenges for psychiatry and anthropology to bridge their universalistic and relativistic points of view.
de Jong
Joop T V M
JT
Tpo Keizersgracht, 1016 Ee Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jdejong@healthnettpo.org
D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001631:Bhutan / Q000208:ethnology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D009390:Nepal; D011057:Politics; D011570:Psychiatry; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D014104:Torture / Q000523:psychology*