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cultural schizophrenia

I have used the term cultural schizophrenia to describe what appears to be confusion and the impact of having non-European origins, a bicultural experience and experiences of straddling the cultural discourses of living in Britain. Therefore, this concept applies to the experiences of anyone highly influenced by Eurocentric thought and life and confused by the cultural domination of a supposed superior group. Examples of this phenomenon can be seen in the struggle to survive institutional racism, a common occurrence in the workplace and educational system. A type of paranoid defense system occurs when black people who are the targets of racism realize how systematized the oppression is. In an attempt to make sense of pain, behavior is modified to reinterpret our own existence or protect ourselves from further oppression. For example, when a white man driving his car yells at me, the first thing he thinks is that I’m a woman, or that I’m black, so he thinks it’s okay to disrespect me. When a white man offers me his seat on the train, I am shocked and wonder why me? We have come a long way since Rosa Parks.

Cultural schizophrenia can be attributed at the individual and institutional level. Even the institution of the family can perpetrate this phenomenon. Families raising a child to believe that they need to be better than they are in order to achieve equality with their white peers is a false assumption based on fear of not being good enough. Wouldn’t it be better to add more encouragement and appreciation for the child’s kindness? An individual who despises her black heritage, or her skin color, features, or hair texture may be prone to cultural schizophrenia. The impact of linguistic efficiency through speaking lessons and a dominant language system can also create confusion. Some of these conditions are attributed to mental health problems. The impact of differences within a family and between generations can add to this problem.

There has been a lack of attention to the individual cultural context of schizophrenia in the mental health system. Statistics suggest that black people are still overrepresented in the mental health system, and therefore we can surmise that cultural schizophrenia may also be present in psychotherapeutic support and referral channels. Even the silence and retching around this problem can exacerbate a kind of schizophrenia. So the question must be asked. Why am I silent? Where was the conditioning to silence placed in my identity? Why do I feel fragmented, as if a part of me does not belong to this land, to this family, to this institution, within me? What patterns of behavior have I developed to protect myself from the pain of racism?

Multiple challenges must be negotiated when working therapeutically in the context of cultural diversity, assimilation, spirituality, family fragmentation, and mental health diagnosis. The phenomenon of cultural schizophrenia can be attributed to the patient, professional and institutions involved in diagnosis and treatment, when the psychological challenges of living with diversity are not taken into account. This may mean that a client’s psychological experience is denied or separated from his or her experience of being black, the experience of being an immigrant, or belonging to a group whose origins differ from the host population. Solutions to this problem can be found when the therapist is willing to facilitate a culturally sensitive dialogue free of bias and Eurocentric-laden expectations and interpretations.

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