Book

Bengali conceptions of mental illness

University MicrofilmsAnn Arbor, Mich. • Published In 1992 • Pages:

By: Bhattacharyya, Deborah Poole, Poole, Deborah.

Abstract
This dissertation, written as a contribution to the growing literature in ethnopsychiatry, examines Bengali folk concepts of mental illness. Bhattacharyya's research on this subject employs a theoretical orientation based on the sociology of knowledge of Alfred Schutz, used in combination with the author's ethnographic methodological design. 'The primary aim of the study is to delineate the meaning of the psychiatric domain in Bengali culture phenomenologically or from the point of the actors themselves' (p. 1). In general, the research as presented here, explores the relationship between knowledge and social behavior. Social activity is analyzed '…within the psychiatric domain and the knowledge which exists as the emergent social product of that activity' (pp. 19-20). This knowledge is then analyzed in terms of those ethnopsychiatric theories that form an integral part of the internal structure of the psychiatric domain and which places that domain within the socio-cultural context.
Subjects
Reviews and critiques
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Observation in research
Interviewing in research
Organization and analysis of results of research
Personality disorders
Invalidism
Sickness
Theory of disease
Sorcery
Magical and mental therapy
Shamans and psychotherapists
Revelation and divination
Ethnopsychology
culture
Bengali
HRAF PubDate
2002
Region
Asia
Sub Region
South Asia
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Sociologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 1992
Field Date
1975-1976 [p. 29]
Coverage Date
1975-76
Coverage Place
Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Notes
[by] Deborah P. Bhattacharyya
UM: AAC8119041
Bibliography: p. 286-299. Includes glossary.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Indiana University, 1981
LCSH
Bengalis