The self and schizophrenia: a cultural perspective

Much of what is known about schizophrenia necessarily reflects and deals with what is expected of and known about the self and human subjectivity. Schizophrenia is a disorder that by definition affects individual perception and cognition, and compromises social identity and functioning. The changes wrought by schizophrenia affect the self in a broad context, encompassing such things as self-concepts, self-awareness, self-functioning, and self-career. Thus, schizophrenia erodes and undermines the organization and functioning of the self, and because of this, schizophrenia and self/subjectivity are integrally linked. However, our knowledge of self and human subjectivity is a Western European-influenced knowledge. A basic assumption of this article is that there exist other, non-Western varieties of selves and human subjectivities that provide essential information for understanding human psychological and social behavior. The aim of this article is to show how an account of such alternative psychologies through cross-cultural anthropological studies may contribute to a fuller understanding of schizophrenia and the self in a cultural and cross-cultural perspective.