Toward a truly international psychology: beyond English only

It is contended that the development of a truly international psychology is obstructed at this point by the massive disregard of contributions that are published in languages other than English. The role of English as a mutually agreed-on principal medium of international communication in psychology is endorsed. At the same time, 11 suggestions are presented to overcome the linguistic isolation from the communities of psychologists in which languages other than English are used to disseminate findings and conceptions.

Anthropophobia: its meaning and concomitant experiences

This study investigated the essential feature and concomitant experiences of anthropophobia, a culturally specific phobic disorder in China and Japan. One hundred and fifty subjects, including 50 anthropophobic, 50 neurasthenic and 50 normal subjects, were recruited from hospitals and downtown residential areas in Beijing. Measures of anthropophobic symptoms and DSM-III-R depressive and anxiety symptoms were administered to all subjects. Nonparametric analysis of variance, analysis of variance (ANOVA and MANOVA) and Fisher's exact test were performed to examine group differences on each symptomatic item of the three measures. Results indicate that the core anthropophobic symptoms include a fear of making eye contact with others and a fear of being watched by others, which essentially express fears of others' judgement or opinion of oneself. Anxiety and depression are associated features of anthropophobia. However, these concomitants are experienced more cognitively and less somatically in the case of anthropophobia than neurasthenia.

Sociocultural contexts of anthropophobia: a sample of Chinese youth

BACKGROUND

Anthropophobia, a subtype of social phobia, is prevalent in Chinese and Japanese societies. This study investigated sociocultural influences on the course of this culturally specific mental disorder.

METHOD

One hundred and fifty subjects, including 50 anthropophobic, 50 neurasthenic, and 50 community subjects, were interviewed in Beijing, China for the assessment of their early life experiences (child-parent relationships and sexual experiences), collectivism disposition, sexual attitudes, and communication behaviors. Logistic and linear regression analyses were performed to examine significant predictors of the occurrence and the symptom level of anthropophobia.

RESULTS

Regression models explained 69% of variance in the diagnosis and 57% of variance in the symptom level of anthropophobia among anthropophobic and community subjects. They also explained 48% and 47% of variance respectively in the diagnosis and the level of symptoms among anthropophobic and neurasthenic subjects. Anthropophobic subjects had more problematic relationships with parents than did community and neurasthenic subjects. They also exhibited significantly stronger characteristics of collectivism than did community subjects. Sexual contact with a non-family member prior to age 19 and a feeling of discomfort when interacting with the opposite sex were significantly associated with the diagnosis and symptom level of anthropophobia.

CONCLUSIONS

It was concluded that anthropophobic subjects' early sexual experiences and need for parental approval shaped their conformity to social norms and negative sexual attitudes, which were reinforced by the collective-orientated cultural environment, and contributed to the development of anthropophobia.

Chronic, early exposure to suicidal ideation in a parental figure: a pattern of presuicidal characteristics

This paper explores the possibility that chronic exposure in childhood to parental suicidal ideation and/or behavior places an individual at significant risk of suicide later in life. Two case studies that provide the basis for this formulation are presented. Possible mechanisms that may account for the development of this syndrome are explored. They include (1) the effects of a chronic sense of powerlessness and guilt; (2) imitation by the child of the parent's self-destructive attitudes and behavior; and (3) blocking of early identification with the other, nonsuicidal parent.

Mental health concepts of evangelical Protestants

There has been an upsurge of interest in the problems encountered when attempting counseling and psychotherapy across cultural and ethnic barriers. Differences between therapist and client in nationality, race, and socioeconomic background have been widely discussed. Protestant evangelicals have not received much attention in this literature, yet this group has a world view not likely to be shared by the majority of mental health professionals. To fill this gap, 152 members of liberal and traditional (evangelical, fundamentalist) Protestant churches were investigated. Measures of religious orthodoxy and of modernity served as independent variables. Dependent variables were attitudes toward seeking mental health services, opinions about mental illness, and tendencies to view mental health problems as spiritual. The results indicate that evangelicals are prepared to use professional help, although they are concerned about the beliefs and values of the mental health practitioner and express fears that secular therapists might try to alter their beliefs and values: They prefer to go to religious advisers. They also appear to have certain characteristic ideas about mental illness that need to be addressed in any attempt to counsel such clients.

Toward a taxonomy of psychopathology: the purpose of psychiatric classification

The topic of psychiatric classification has generated more interest and controversy in the last decade than for a long time. Several trends have coalesced to foster its resurgence as a subject of debate. First, a sociological perspective on psychopathology has gained widespread attention (Becker, 1963; Matza, 1969; Scheff, 1966). The exponents of this perspective have focused on the effects of ‘labelling.’ Their writings have stimulated mental health professionals to examine the consequences of applying classificatory systems in psychiatry. Second, the rapid development of behaviour modification has been a source of numerous polemical attacks on the ‘medical model’ and on the classification system derived from the notion that psychological disturbances constitute a finite number of varieties of mental illness (e.g., Ullmann and Krasner, 1975). Third, criticisms have been voiced of the unsatisfactory reliability of the standard/accepted national and international psychiatric classification schemes (e.g., Scharfetter, 1971; Spitzer and Wilson, 1974). Such criticisms have sparked the development of new classificatory systems notable for the specificity and explicitness of rules of diagnostic assignment (Feighner et al, 1972; Spitzer, Endicott, and Robins, 1974).