Mentally ill do better in the Third World

SLUSK wrote: »

Is it an exaggeration to call modern psychiatry absolutely useless when we see this kind of evidence?

Yes it is. As usual your overstated, ill-informed, agenda driven threads and posts show that you're only interested in bringing evidence to the table to support your existing biases and prejudices. The evidence you do bring you don't even seem to read, bar the headline perhaps. Otherwise you would have seen that the reasons given for the differences in improvement between the cultures related to distinct differences in social and cultural norms:

He said the outcome was better in the latter because of strong support networks, the opportunity to work and lack of stigma in areas where beliefs in witchcraft and karma mean the condition is accepted more easily.

"The large number of people in households [in developing countries] means that there is a network of people who can share the responsibility for the patient's care and recovery. There is a strong sense of duty and they all share the burden. In the West you are more likely to find a middle- aged person with schizophrenia being cared for by one carer and the burden of emotional and physical care falls on one person."

Cultures that avoid confrontation also worked in schizophrenics' favour. Other advantages were the lack of competitiveness and more opportunities for unskilled labour in agrarian economies. "Sufferers feel they are contributing to the economy and they feel valued."

What this suggests to anyone who cares to bring more than a skin-deep analysis of the information to bear on the matter, is that modern psychiatry desperately needs to be part of a broader psycho-social response to mental illness which includes long-term commitments to developing social supports and cultural perceptions which clearly contribute to recovery. Irish services are beginning to do this by embracing a 'recovery' model of support and service delivery. The change in culture and social structures which would support those with mental illness is very much more difficult and not just a matter for psychiatry but for us all as a society.