Case Study

Case Study

Table of Content

Introduction3

Patients Biography and Medical History6

Physical7

Patient Culture7

The Depression8

Organisation of Care9

Medications9

Diagnosis of depression9

Suggestion14

Patient culture and its impact on Depression15

Positive Changes in Patient Lifestyle17

Conclusion18

References20

Case Study

Introduction

At first glance, it is easy to miscategorize The Psychological Foundations of Culture as belonging to the body of literature on cultural diversity. Such a book would consider the impact of cultural processes on an individual's psychology. This one does not, although cross-cultural variants in key constructs such as self esteem and aggression are included here. One might next mistake the volume for an attempt to define culture in its many aspects. This, too would be an error, although multiple and comprehensive definitions of culture are provided throughout the book. In fact, the premise of The Psychological Foundations of Culture is the converse of those described above- namely, that culture itself is the product of certain fundamental human characteristics. This is a novel approach to the question of culture. As contributors Adams and Markus point out, “Studies in social psychology usually do not consider culture directly, as a psychological phenomenon in its own right, but only indirectly, as a source of group-based variation in other psychological phenomena” (pp. 335-336). That this volume exists at all, then, represents a new way of looking at questions of culture. That it comprises a series of rigorously theorized and researched explorations of these questions makes it an informative and valuable reading experience. This volume is divided into three sections. In the first, How Cultures Emerge at All, the contributing authors examine why and how the customs, social norms, rules, and rituals that culture comprises come into being. In doing so, the contributors to this section consider factors such as the awareness of mortality and “death transcendence” as motivators to endorse the prevailing norms of one's culture. Also introduced here is Dynamic Social Impact Theory, a comprehensive explanation of how initially uncorrelated attitudes and beliefs come to co-occur over time, eventually resulting in what we perceive as a coherent and dynamic cultural whole. This comprehensive chapter, written by Harton and Bourgeois, draws heavily on the work of Latané, and is referenced repeatedly throughout the rest of the book. Section Two, How Specific Cultural Norms Arise, addresses the biological, cognitive, and motivational factors that result in the selection and maintenance of group norms. Within this section, a chapter by Crandall and Schaller entitled “Scientists and Science: How Individual Goals Shape Collective Norms” is likely to be of particular interest to the research community. Through a series of well-designed retrospective studies, the authors argue convincingly that the scientific knowledge transmitted from one generation to the next is not necessarily that which is most groundbreaking, has the most explanatory power, or is the most far-reaching in its implications. Rather, the knowledge that survives over time is that which is conveyed simply, easy to understand, and consonant with our already-held beliefs about the world.

Psychological And Sociological Definitions Of Culture

Culture is the set of ideas, behaviors, attitudes, and traditions that exist within large groups ...