Assignment 1: Culture-Bound Syndromes

How alike are mental disorders in different cultures throughout the world? How would a health professional in the United States approach the process of treating someone who presents a cultural syndrome? Those are questions that you will answer through your first Week 6 Assignment.

Your Learning Resources this week feature the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V, 5th edition). It is the main reference used by U.S. mental health professionals to identify and describe symptoms of mental disorders. Your required reading includes content in the manual on cultural syndromes.

There is no one-to-one correspondence between a cultural syndrome and a DSM diagnosis. However, a psychologist would need to utilize a respected diagnostic tool like the DSM as a starting point in determining the most appropriate treatment for a suffering person.

Your Assignment this week is an opportunity to think like a mental health professional while applying what you have learned about cross-cultural psychology. For this Assignment, you will explore different cultural syndromes and analyze the application of DSM-V diagnostic criteria to specific syndromes of your choice .

To prepare:

By Day 7

Submit a completed worksheet with information on seven cultural syndromes of your choice.

In the designated rows of the worksheet, provide the following for each of your selected cultural syndromes:

Note: Support the responses within your Assignment with evidence from the assigned Learning Resources. Provide a reference list for resources you used for this Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following: