Extraordinary conditions: culture and experience in mental illness

363 Pages·2015·5.087 MB·English

by  Jenkins, Janis Hunter

Extraordinary
Conditions
Culture and Experience in Mental Illness
Janis H. Jenkins
university of california press
Extraordinary Conditions

Extraordinary
Conditions
Culture and Experience in Mental Illness
Janis H. Jenkins
university of california press
University of California Press, one of the most
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University of California Press
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© 2015 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jenkins, Janis H., author.
Extraordinary conditions : culture and experience in
mental illness / Janis H. Jenkins. — First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-28709-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-28711-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-96222-4 (ebook)
1. Mental illness—Cross-cultural studies.
2. Mental illness—Social aspects. 3. Medical
anthropology. 4. Ethnopsychology. I. Title.
rc455.4.e8j46 2015
362.196890089—dc23
2015020400
Manufactured in the United States of America
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support
environmentally responsible and sustainable printing
practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures
Natural, a fi ber that contains 30% post-consumer waste
and meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso
z39.48–1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
To TC

Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Prelude and Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Culture, Mental Illness, and the Extraordinary 1
part one. psychosis, psychopharmacology,
and families
1. Cultural Chemistry in the Clozapine Clinic 23
2. This Is How God Wants It? The Struggle of Sebastián 71
3. Expressed Emotion and Conceptions of Mental Illness: Social
Ecology of Families Living with Schizophrenia 96
part two. violence, trauma, and depression
4. The Impress of Extremity among Salvadoran
Refugees 141
5. Blood and Magic: No Hay que Creer ni Dejar de Creer 180
6. Trauma and Trouble in the Land of Enchantment 214
Conclusion: Fruits of the Extraordinary 249
Notes 265
Works Cited 281
Index 327
Figures and Tables
figures
1. Experiential mélange of person-illness-meds / 61
2. Relationship among factors perceived as critical to
improvement / 62
3. Mural of the Virgin and family, New Mexico / 218
tables
1. Fundamental aspects of mental illness that are culturally
shaped / 14
2. Sociodemographic characteristics of research participants / 35
3. Clinical characteristics of research participants / 36
4. Paradoxes of lived experience for persons taking atypical anti-
psychotics / 65
5. Conceptions of the problem by Mexican American and Euro-
American relatives / 130
6. Gender and diagnosis among hospitalized adolescents in
New Mexico / 223
7. Violence-related problems among hospitalized adolescents
in New Mexico / 224
ix