Anorexia nervosa is a paradoxical disorder, regarded across disciplines as a body project and yet also an illness of disembodied subjectivity. This overlooks the role that material environments—including objects and spaces—play in producing embodied experiences of anorexia both within and outside treatment. To address this gap, this paper draws together two ethnographic studies of anorexia to explore

In this paper I analyze philosophically the dominant conception of happiness operative in the increasingly popular global movement to empirically define, measure, and promote human happiness: the idea of “subjective psychological wellbeing” (SWB). SWB is presented as an ethically and metaphysically neutral “scientific” view of the human good or wellbeing, grounded purely in empirical psychology, survey

For years, Common law and Civil Code have determined the legal age as majority which defines adulthood, giving a presumption of legal capacity to adults. At this age, all adults are presumed to be capable of making their own decisions, protecting their interests and exercising the rights they enjoy in the acts of their civil life. This legal presumption of capacity structures the life-course of adults

Although we are accustomed to thinking about technology as involving things—objects and processes—derived from scientific discoveries, science also creates a technology of ideas, ways of thinking both about the world and about human beings. And unlike “thing technology,” “idea technology” can have powerful effects even when the ideas are false. This paper discusses false idea technology, or ideology

This article examines the self-concept of the person who experienced Notq -the Druze phenomenon of remembering and talking about previous life. We focus on ‘solved’ stories- ones in which the person identifies his/her previous incarnation. The central question of this study is: What is the phenomenological experience of a person who has had Notq? In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with

Drawing from ethnographic research with psychedelic therapists and researchers, this article explores political tensions between two sources of efficacy within psychedelic therapy: the self and the chemical. At times researchers and therapists emphasize the specificity of chemical effects in relationship to the neurobiology of particular diagnoses. And at other times they foreground the self as the

Biomedicine tends to treat “mental” illnesses as if they could be isolated from multiple social and somatic problems. Yet mental suffering is inseparable from complex somatosocial relations. Clinical fieldwork in a deprived area of the UK shows that nearly all the people treated for “depression” are chronically multimorbid, both in their bodies and in their social relations. Mental suffering is co-produced

This paper explores how criticism surrounding the ethics and safety of biomedical technologies circulates and ‘converts’ through global–local religious encounters, producing new claims of moral opposition and rights to religious freedom. The paper is concerned with the question of what rhetorical devices make vaccine safety doubt relevant to religiously Orthodox settings and what implications arise

Standardized assessment tools developed in western contexts may systematically miss certain problems that are considered important in non-western cultures. In this mixed-methods study, we used an open-ended assessment tool (the Top Problem Assessment; TPA) to identify culturally relevant concerns among low-income Kenyan youth. We then (a) applied thematic analysis to identify the most frequently reported

This article presents the case of a young, second generation American Muslim man who was admitted involuntarily to an adult psychiatric inpatient unit. The patient’s clinical picture was unclear—the treatment team was unsure if he demonstrated signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder or if a personality disorder (antisocial or narcissistic) better explained his presentation. His clinical picture after

In this piece, the authors present the case of a young Black American man who experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after an episode of police violence. Through engagement with this case, the authors consider whether trauma-focused psychotherapies, particularly trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapies (TF-CBT), are equipped to attend to contextual factors relevant to traumatic

Cancer is regarded as a disease that redefines an individual’s life and relationships. The medicalization and reclamation of the individual’s sense of body, self, and social life have been long examined by psychiatry and anthropology alike. We argue that creating comics is a form of artistic narrative that affirms and proclaims the existence of a past and future possibilities for individuals diagnosed

In this article, I argue that rhythm is a key concept in understanding autism. The article builds on fieldwork conducted amongst autistic children at two specialized institutions in Denmark, as well as interviews with parents of autistic children, some of whom were also autistic themselves. The paper draws on Lefebvre’s theory of ‘rhythmanalysis’ and treats rhythm as a ‘way of being’. Viewing autism

Attending to the shades of grey in eating disorder recovery may help to illuminate possibilities for navigating recoveries in their full complexity and diversity. There is a need for more complexity and flexibility in understandings of the timelines, processes, endpoints, and versions of eating disorder recoveries. In this article, we explore eating disorder recovery as a dynamic, intercorporeal, and

Idioms of distress have been employed in psychological anthropology and global mental health to solicit localized understandings of suffering. The idiom “thinking too much” is employed in cultural settings worldwide to express feelings of emotional and cognitive disquiet with psychological, physical, and social consequences on people’s well-being and daily functioning. This systematic review investigates

At a psychiatric refugee clinic for survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide, a survey revealed that 42% (38/90) had auditory hallucinations (AHs) in the last month. Of those with AHs, 87% (33/38) had PTSD, whereas of those without AHs, 31% (16/52) had PTSD, giving a chi square of 27.8, p < .001, odds ratio 14.8 (4.8–45). Most AHs were of a “ghost summoning” (khmaoch hao), considered an exhortation to

The article aims at analysing online depression forums enabling lay reinterpretation and criticism of expert biomedical discourses. Firstly, two contrasting interpretations of depression are reconstructed: expert psy-discourses are confronted with the phenomenological descriptions of lay experiences, with a special emphasis on online forums as empirical platforms hosting such debates. After clarifying

In this introduction, we propose the notion of ‘embodied belonging’ as a fruitful analytical heuristic for scholars in medical and psychological anthropology. We envision this notion to help us gain a more nuanced understanding of the entanglements of the political, social, and affective dimensions of belonging and their effects on health, illness, and healing. A focus on embodied belonging, we argue

This paper examines how cultural, historical and contemporary perspectives of mental health continue to inform ways of understanding and responding to mental distress even under the biomedical gaze of the Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH). Based on experiences in Malawi, the authors explore three prominent interventions (practical support, counselling and support groups) employed by village

This qualitative study presents migrant patient perspectives on using the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) in mental health assessments in Denmark. Empirical data consisted of 20 recorded CFI sessions and 16 patient interviews, coded with a constructivist grounded theory approach. Empirical findings prompted us to draw on the theoretical framework of intersubjective recognition in the analytical

This paper engages with the notion of ‘embodied belonging’ through an ethnography of the social and material aspects of accessing mental health care in the UK. I focus on moments of access and transition in a voluntary sector organisation in London: an intercultural psychotherapy centre, serving a range of im/migrant communities. Whilst both ‘belonging’ and ‘place’ are often invoked to imply stability

Physician-assisted death for patients suffering from psychiatric disorders is allowed in the Netherlands under certain circumstances. One of the central problems that arise with regard to this practice is the question of whether it is possible to distinguish between suicidality and a request for physician-assisted death. We set up this study to gain insight into how psychiatrists and general practitioners

The original version of the article unfortunately contained an error and it has been corrected with this erratum.

Interoceptive awareness is the conscious perception of sensations that create a sense of the physiological condition of the body. A validation study for the Japanese translation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) surprised with a factor structure different from the original English-language version by eliminating two of eight scales. This prompted an exploration of

Patients often adhere to intrathecal opioid therapy (IOT) for many years, despite the lack of scientific evidence for its efficacy and the scarce knowledge about long-term effects. Moreover, there is no knowledge on how the efficacy of IOT is influenced by cultural factors. We assessed the long-term efficacy and frequency of side effects of IOT in two culturally different patient samples. A chart review

Drawing on ethnographic research among asylum seekers in the Midwestern United States, this article investigates how a profound sense of limbo informed the use, meaning, and experiences of psychotherapeutic interventions, namely psychiatric medication and psychotherapy. In doing so, the article brings into dialogue a consideration of temporal and spatial uncertainty as a key feature of refugee distress

Limited research has investigated whether clinicians around the world find diagnostic criteria for depression that were originally developed in the West are useful with diverse populations. Using an embedded mixed-methods design in India, we examined (a) clinicians' and trainees' (n = 143) ratings of the usefulness of the criteria for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) outlined in two major diagnostic

Psychiatric neurosurgery has resurfaced over the past two decades for the treatment of severe mental health disorders, with improved precision and safety over older interventions alongside the development of novel ones. Little is known, however, about current public opinions, expectations, hopes, and concerns over this evolution in neurotechnology, particularly given the controversial history of psychosurgery

While Japan boasts a universal healthcare system and state-of-the-art medical technology, healthcare has often been denied to those who do not conform to moral ideals of a deserving patient. In underclass enclaves known as yoseba (day laborers’ quarter), patients have been frequently turned away or blacklisted on grounds of their abnormality and non-compliance. As much as healthcare was enmeshed in

Drawing on fieldwork and interviews in Oslo and Bergen, Norway, this article discusses irregular migrants’ experiences of existential displacement and the tactics they use to try to re-establish a sense of emplacement and belonging. More specifically, it argues that irregular migrants’ experiences of embodied unbelonging are a consequence of a violent form of governmentality that includes specific

Despite extensive ethnographic and qualitative research on traditional healers in Nepal, the role of traditional healers in relation to mental health has not been synthesized. We focused on the following clinically based research question, “What are the processes by which Nepali traditional healers address mental well-being?” We adopted a scoping review methodology to maximize the available literature

In this article, we explore the power of shared embodiment for the constitution of an affective community. More specifically, we examine how people afflicted by long-term, arduous experiences of war, migration, and discrimination sensually articulate and, at least temporarily, renegotiate feelings of non/belonging, care, and in/exclusion. Methodologically, we draw on emplaced ethnography and systematic

With the United States military stretched thin in the “global war on terror,” military officials have embraced psychopharmaceuticals in the effort to enable more troops to remain “mission-capable.” Within the intimate conditions in which deployed military personnel work and live, soldiers learn to read for signs of psychopharmaceutical use by others, and consequently, may become accountable to those

Mukbang is a recent Internet phenomenon in which video recordings of hosts eating large amounts of food are streamed on an online video platform. It originated in South Korea around 2014 and has since become a global trend. The aim of this study was to explore how viewers of mukbang videos relate their audience experiences to symptoms of disordered eating. A qualitative analysis of YouTube comments

Deinstitutionalization is often described as an organizational shift of moving care from the psychiatric hospital towards the community. This paper analyses deinstitutionalization as a daily care practice by adopting an empirical ethics approach instead. Deinstitutionalization of mental healthcare is seen as an important way of improving the quality of lives of people suffering from severe mental illness

Cybersuicide, or suicide mediated by the internet in various ways, is a growing phenomenon worldwide and one which makes an often private act highly public. This paper provides an exploration of one version of cybersuicide: suicide that is livestreamed on the internet. Through an analysis of three case studies, this paper asks what light anthropological concepts of performance can shed on cybersuicide

This piece discusses an internal medicine trainee’s attempt to process the untimely death of a patient seen in primary clinic by suicide. More specifically, it explores the role mental health may have played in the patient’s care, and the possibility of the symptoms which were labeled as functional having been manifestations of underlying psychiatric illness. The piece also attempts to explore the

The current article focused on examining the potential benefits of the End-of-Life (EoL) informal caregiving, communication, and ritualistic behaviors in adaptation to the conjugal bereavement across two different cultural-background contexts: France and Togo, West Africa. The investigation adopted a transnational approach including a total of 235 bereaved spouses. Despite the variation in the length

Child soldiers have been heavily involved in contemporary African warfare. Since the 1990s, the ‘child soldier crisis’ has become a major humanitarian and human rights project. The figure of the child soldier has often been taken as evidence of the ‘barbarism’, dehumanization and trauma generated by modern warfare, but such images can obscure the complex reality of children’s experiences of being part

Cultural diversity poses a challenge to mental Health care systems in many settings. Specialized cultural consultation services have been developed in a number of countries as a way to supplement existing services. The objective of this paper is to compare and contrast cultural consultation services in Montreal, London, and Paris to determine how culture and society have shaped the evolution of these

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with low rates of treatment and medication non-adherence, more so in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Mobile mental health (mHealth) interventions offer promise as a tool to address these problems. However, the feasibility and acceptability of mHealth interventions among rural women in LMICs is unknown. We examined barriers to accessing mental

While the links between colonial psychiatry and racism figure prominently in histories of the diagnosis, treatment and institutionalisation of the mentally ill in Africa, there is an absence of patient-centred accounts, in the analysis of the efforts of the colonial-era subjects themselves to be pro-active not merely as the mentally ill, by clinical or court definition, but as persons embedded in social

The capacity to feel and express themselves in response to worldly surroundings is a defining feature of who a person living with dementia is, and can have profound effects on the ways in which they think, act and express creativity. Drawing on a year of intensive collaborative work with residents living with dementia in an Orthodox Jewish care home in London, I extend our perceptions and understandings

Ghost encounters were found to be a key part of the trauma ontology among Cambodian refugees at a psychiatric clinic, a key idiom of distress. Fifty-four percent of patients had been bothered by ghost encounters in the last month. The severity of being bothered by ghosts in the last month was highly correlated to PTSD severity (r = .8), and among patients bothered by ghosts in the last month, 85.2%

Infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world in low and middle-income countries where postpartum depression impacts at least one in five women. Currently, there is a dearth of data on maternal mood and infant health outcomes in small-scale non-industrial populations from such countries, particularly during the postnatal period. Here, we present the first investigation of postpartum

Beauty ideals in the Caribbean are shifting with increased exposure to Western and European standards of appearance. Previous research has shown a consistent link between internalization of Western beauty ideals and depressive symptoms and other forms of psychological disturbance among diverse populations including Caribbeans. We examined the association between internalization of Western beauty ideals

Bulimia is an eating disorder characterised primarily by binging and 'inappropriate' compensatory behaviours, such as purging or excessive exercise. Many individuals with bulimia experience chronic disordered eating, dissatisfaction with treatment, and difficulty establishing a 'new life'. Recovery-oriented practice, which focuses holistically on the person and their own aspirations for treatment,

This paper attends to the sociality available in the clozapine clinic regimen and suggests that the social dimensions of clozapine treatment may be as important as the biochemical efficacy of clozapine. The clozapine clinic is where people diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia who take the antipsychotic clozapine go for routine monitoring of clozapine side effects, particularly haematological effects

To explore the role of culture in communicating with cancer patients about mental health distress and suicidality. The Grounded Theory method of data collection and analysis was used. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) reported that language competency was a facilitator while being unable to speak the language or understand the nuances of their patient's communication could be a barrier. HCPs noted that

The dramatic increase in the consumption of antidepressants is one indicator, among others, of the contemporary cerebralization of human affliction. This process has been led by expert systems, creating new biosocialities or neurosocialities, and new models of self as well: the neural self. While some research minimizes the neuro-colonization of the self and its impact on lay knowledge systems, here

Often, we assume the traumatic nature of first response work has inevitable repercussions. This can lead to assumptions about trauma being the reason for distress, resulting in fixed ideas about diagnosis and treatment, without the complex socio-political and psychodynamic implications being fully considered. This paper challenges such assumptions by exploring the presentation of PTSD in 'old guard'

This paper describes a pervasive form of psychological distress occurring among people undergoing a sudden and acute collapse of faith in the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka LDS, or Mormon Church). Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork in Utah, I trace the cultural-historical etiology of this unique form of psycho-existential trauma, focusing on ex-Mormons' narratives

Gambling addiction (GA) is now considered a worldwide health issue. Although the topic of disorder awareness is a central issue in clinical practice, there are few studies examining this dimension in relation to GA. To bridge this gap, we conducted a qualitative study, administering interviews focused on awareness of GA and eliciting narratives of both the disorder and the whole life of participants

Unpaid work is now a central therapy in Puerto Rican therapeutic communities, where substance users reside and seek to rehabilitate each other, often for years at a time. Once a leading treatment for addiction in mainland United States, therapeutic communities were scaled back in the 1970s after they lost federal endorsement. They continue to flourish in Puerto Rico for reasons that have less to do

Mental healthcare is largely unavailable throughout Haiti, particularly in rural areas. The aim of the current study is to explore perceived feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of potential culturally adapted interventions to improve mental health among Haitian women. The study used focus group discussions (n = 12) to explore five potential interventions to promote mental health: individual

Restraints and seclusion are routinely used in child mental health settings for conflict and crisis management, but raise significant ethical concerns. Using a participatory hermeneutic ethnographic framework, we studied conflict and crisis management in a child mental health setting offering care to children aged 6-12 years old in Quebec, Canada. The use of this framework allowed for an in-depth examination

This study aimed to analyze main groups accused on social media of causing or spreading the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. In this analysis, blame is construed as a vehicle of meaning through which the lay public makes sense of an epidemic, and through which certain classes of people become "figures of blame". Data was collected from Twitter and Facebook using key word extraction, then categorized

Cultural variability regarding concepts of distress for common mental disorders (CMD) has been reported extensively in cultural clinical psychology across the globe. However, little is known about illness narratives in social communities from Southeast Europe. The purpose of this paper is to identify cultural concepts of distress (CCDs) among Albanian-speaking immigrants in Switzerland and to integrate