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:

• Review Chapter 9 in your course text, with particular attention to the sections on cultural syndromes and DSM-V.
• Review Table 9.1, “Specific Cultural Syndromes,” in the course text (pp. 259–261). There are 21 cultural disorders identified. Select seven cultural syndromes as the focus of your Assignment .
• Review the DMS-V chapter on Cultural Formation and the Appendix, “Glossary of Cultural Concepts of Distress,” in the Week 6 Learning Resources. Note that multiple potential diagnoses are listed for some syndromes, but you will need to select and defend one diagnosis.
• Explore the entire DSM-V, also provided in your Week 6 Learning Resources. Consider how the cultural syndromes you selected may be diagnosed when applying the DSM-V criteria.
• Access the Handout Worksheet in the Learning Resources. You will use it to complete your Assignment.

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:

• Identify the name of the cultural syndrome.
• Describe the main symptoms and behaviors of the cultural syndrome.
• Identify the DSM-V disorder that you believe is a possible diagnosis of the cultural syndrome.
• List key symptoms and behaviors related to the chosen DSM-V diagnosis that also relate to the cultural syndrome.
• Provide a brief explanation of your choice of the DSM-V disorder and how you see it connecting to the cultural syndrome.

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:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK6Assgn1+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 6 Assignment 1 Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 6 Assignment 1 link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK6Assgn1+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.