This research focuses on how suffering is culturally constructed and how these constructions affect the ways in which schizophrenia is experienced and coped with. The objective of this study is to explore how Buddhist notions of suffering influence health-seeking behavior for schizophrenia in Burma. This study has three specific aims: 1) Identify specific sources and interpretations of suffering among Burmese Buddhists; 2) Examine the relationship between cultural concepts of suffering and specific features of mental illness, specifically (a) the subjective experience of schizophrenia from the diverse perspectives of healers, patients, and patient's family members; and (b) social and clinical beliefs about mental illness; 3) Determine the influence cultural concepts of suffering have on health-seeking behavior for schizophrenia.
These aims will be addressed through ethnographic observations, structured and semi-structured interviews with healers involved with mental health care, in- and outpatients with schizophrenia seeking treatment at the Yangon Psychiatric Hospital in Rangoon, Burma, and patient's family members or caregivers. This study will advance understanding of the relationship between religion and severe mental illness experience, and the role of suffering in shaping illness course and outcome, health beliefs, and health care utilization patterns. Given that suffering is a common and pervasive feature of illness experience, its study stands to shed light into several areas important to anthropology, medicine, and psychology.
