ABSTRACT
Was the young man in this case misdiagnosed? If this case was taking place in the United States, would you accept the diagnoses involving “evil spirits” and would you prescribe praying as a treatment? Or would you rather think of diagnostic symptoms associated with
catatonia, disorganized speech, and delusions and prescribe hospitalization and medical treatment? Moreover, is the father delusional too because he insisted he had been invaded by a jinn? But hold on a second! Do we have the right to challenge some people’s religious beliefs and reject their interpretation of the patient’s behavior? The diagnostic manual used by clinicians in the United States (to which we will refer in this chapter several times) explicitly states that certain forms of behavior should not to be labeled delusional and abnormal if shared by members of a religion, culture, or subculture. If the members of a community or larger society interpret the symptoms in their own way, can we impose on them our secular views of how to diagnose and treat psychological disorders? Are the specialists able, in principle, to clearly separate a psychopathological syndrome from a cultural norm without confusing the two? We will try to answer these and many other questions related to culture and psychological disorders.
