Our Most Troubling Madness: Case Studies in Schizophrenia across Cultures

303 Pages·2016·8.11 MB·English

by  T. M. Luhrmann

OUR MOST TROUBLING
MADNESS
case studies in schizophrenia
across cultures
T. M. Luhrmann Jocelyn Marrow
Edited by and
university of california press
OUR MOST TROUBLING MADNESS
ethnographic studies in subjectivity
T. M. Luhrmann, Editor
1. Forget Colonialism? Sacrifi ce and the Art of Memory in Madagascar, by Jennifer Cole
2. Sensory Biographies: Lives and Deaths among Nepal’s Yolmo Buddhists, by Robert R. Desjarlais
3. Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community, by Kathryn Linn Geurts
4. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New Guinea Society, by Joel Robbins
5. Jesus in Our Wombs: Embodying Modernity in a Mexican Convent, by Rebecca J. Lester
6. Th e Too-Good Wife: Alcohol, Codependency, and the Politics of Nurturance in Postwar Japan,
by Amy Borovoy
7. Subjectivity: Ethnographic Investigations, edited by João Biehl, Byron J. Good, and Arthur Kleinman
8. P ostcolonial Disorders, edited by Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good, Sandra Teresa Hyde, Sarah Pinto, and
Byron J. Good
9. Under a Watchful Eye: Self, Power, and Intimacy in Amazonia, by Harry Walker
10. Unsettled: Denial and Belonging among White Kenyans, by Janet McIntosh
11. Our Most Troubling Madness: Case Studies in Schizophrenia across Cultures, edited by T. M. Luhrmann
and Jocelyn Marrow
OUR MOST TROUBLING
MADNESS
case studies in schizophrenia
across cultures
T. M. Luhrmann Jocelyn Marrow
Edited by and
university of california press
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished
university presses in the United States, enriches lives around
the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social
sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by
the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions
from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit
www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2016 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Luhrmann, T. M. (Tanya M.), 1959– editor,
contributor. | Marrow, Jocelyn, editor, contributor.
Title: Our most troubling madness : case studies in
schizophrenia across cultures / [edited by] T. M. Luhrmann
and Jocelyn Marrow.
Other titles: Ethnographic studies in subjectivity ; 11.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California
Press, [2016] | Series: Ethnographic studies in subjectivity ;
11 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: lccn 2016006838 | isbn 9780520291089
(cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780520291096 (pbk.) |
isbn 9780520964945 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: lcsh: Schizophrenia—Cross-cultural
studies. | Schizophrenia—Case studies.
Classifi cation: lcc rc514 .o93 2016 | ddc 616.89/8—dc23
lc record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016006838
Manufactured in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For all those who struggle to make a life with serious psychotic disorder

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Foreword xi
Kim Hopper
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
T. M. Luhrmann
1. “I’m Schizophrenic!”: How Diagnosis Can Change Identity
in the United States 27
T. M. Luhrmann
2. Diagnostic Neutrality in Psychiatric Treatment
in North India 42
Amy June Sousa
3. Vulnerable Transitions in a World of Kin: In the Shadow
of Good Wifeliness in North India 56
Jocelyn Marrow
4. Work and Respect in Chennai 71
Giulia Mazza
5. Racism and Immigration: An African-Caribbean Woman
in London 86
Johanne Eliacin
6. Voices Th at Are More Benign: Th e Experience of Auditory
Hallucinations in Chennai 99
T. M. Luhrmann and R. Padmavati
7. Demonic Voices: One Man’s Experience of God, Witches,
and Psychosis in Accra, Ghana 113
Damien Droney
8. M adness Experienced as Faith: Temple Healing
in North India 127
Anubha Sood
9. F aith Interpreted as Madness: Religion, Poverty, and
Psychiatry in the Life of a Romanian Woman 139
Jack R. Friedman
10. Th e Culture of the Institutional Circuit in the United States 153
T. M. Luhrmann
11. Return to Baseline: A Woman with Acute-Onset, Non-aff ective
Remitting Psychosis in Th ailand 167
Julia Cassaniti
12. A Fragile Recovery in the United States 180
Neely A. L. Myers
Conclusion 197
Jocelyn Marrow and T. M. Luhrmann
Notes 223
Bibliography 241
Contributors 265
Index 269
ILLUSTRATIONS
1. John Hood’s drawing of schizophrenia / 32
2. In India, patients attend appointments with family / 48
3. A young married woman on the Ghats of Varanasi / 57
4. A banyan tree / 72
5. A woman alone on the streets of Mumbai / 78
6. Accra General Psychiatric Hospital (sign and waiting area) / 117
7. A page from Sunita’s notebook / 132
8. A poverty-striken woman in Romania / 144
9. A woman with psychosis on a street in Chicago / 157
10. Zaney’s drawing of her social world / 162
11. Th ai spirit house / 171
12. A member’s cartoon drawing of the Center / 181
13. Rules governing life on the street (window and doors) / 190

ix