The butterfly and the serpent: culture, psychopathology and biomedicine.
Culture, medicine and psychiatry September 1, 1987 R Littlewood, M Lipsedge
Cultural explanations of psychopathology in the West have rarely used models from anthropology developed for small-scale non-literate communities. Some features of ritual patterns classed as 'culture-bound syndromes' apply to Western neurosis. These reactions articulate both personal predicaments and public concerns, often reflecting core structural oppositions between age groups or sexes. Their power comes from relying on unquestionable assumptions that, while beyond everyday jural relationships, articulate those relationships. In Western reactions, biomedicine provides this 'mystical sanction'. Theoretical paradigms emphasize either individual pragmatic or expressive aspects, or social homeostasis.