Culture Bound Syndrome

2 Pages 509 Words

Throughout my reading, the most interesting syndrome/Illness was the Culture-Bound Syndrome. The DSM recognizes this syndrome suggesting that one’s culture and social environments have an important influence on the development of abnormal behavior.

I completely agree with the diagnosis of this syndrome having witnessed a form of it throughout my adolescence.

When I was a teenager, I attended a middle school called Chestnut Street School. I found the obsession not only to fit in, but the obsession among girls of my age was to have the need to “prove” themselves. Chestnut Street was considered to be a tough school. As the environment (being the products of low to middle classed income) was not so much “I need that pair of Abercrombie jeans” it was more of “I need to prove myself for respect”.

When I was fourteen years old, my family moved to Ludlow (an high middle to upper income class town). My thoughts and beliefs that I was brought up to know changed a dramatic 360 degrees. Instead of the “I must prove myself for respect attitude, it changed to “I must have that new Abercrombie tee”. Or, I will do anything to be in the popular crowd.
Of course my not growing up in this environment benefited my (now that I am looking back. I think the confusion of the “two worlds” brought me to be myself. I felt no need to be popular – nor could my family afford the latest, most expensive clothes. So the “Ludlow Syndrome” never quite caught with me. Thinking back now – what was my culture? Being schooled, then taken out of the “Chestnut Syndrome”. I didn’t have that obsession either. To conclude my experiences, my two worlds let me find the true me. I was able to distinguish myself from some of the people affected by the culture syndrome. Not only did some of the high school students have this illness in a severe manner, but I also think that it is not only learned from their cultur...