Terms of abuse as expression and reinforcement of cultures

In this study terms of abuse are investigated in 11 different cultures. Spontaneous verbal aggression is to a certain extent reminiscent of the values of a certain culture. Almost 3000 subjects from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, Poland, Great Britain, USA, Norway, Greece, and The Netherlands were asked to write down terms of abuse that they would use given a certain stimulus situation, and in addition, to give their rating of the offensive character of those terms. A total set of 12,000 expressions was collected. The frequencies of the expressions were established, and the total list of expressions was reduced to 16 categories. Results point to some etic taboos, like sexuality and lack of intelligence. On the other hand clear differences across cultures were found, which cannot easily be explained by existing classifications of national cultures. Explanations are provided in terms of dimensions on which the 11 cultures differ. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Accessibility of psychiatric vocabulary: An international study about schizophrenia essential features

37"."nonenoneAskevis-Leherpeux F.; Hazo J.-B.; Agoub M.; Baleige A.; Barikova V.; Benmessaoud D.; Brunet F.; Carta M.-G.; Castelpietra G.; Crepaz-Keay D.; Daumerie N.; Demassiet V.; Fontaine A.; Grigutyte N.; Guernut M.; Kishore J.; Kiss M.; Koenig M.; Laporta M.; Layoussif E.; Limane Y.; Lopez M.; Mura G.; Pelletier J.-F.; Raharinivo M.; Reed G.; Richa S.; Robles-Garcia R.; Saxena S.; Skourteli M.; Tassi F.; Stona A.-C.; Thevenon C.; Triantafyllou M.; Vasilopoulos F.; Wooley S.; Roelandt J.-L.Askevis-Leherpeux, F.; Hazo, J. -B.; Agoub, M.; Baleige, A.; Barikova, V.; Benmessaoud, D.; Brunet, F.; Carta, M. -G.; Castelpietra, G.; Crepaz-Keay, D.; Daumerie, N.; Demassiet, V.; Fontaine, A.; Grigutyte, N.; Guernut, M.; Kishore, J.; Kiss, M.; Koenig, M.; Laporta, M.; Layoussif, E.; Limane, Y.; Lopez, M.; Mura, G.; Pelletier, J. -F.; Raharinivo, M.; Reed, G.; Richa, S.; Robles-Garcia, R.; Saxena, S.; Skourteli, M.; Tassi, F.; Stona, A. -C.; Thevenon, C.; Triantafyllou, M.; Vasilopoulos, F.; Wooley, S.; Roelandt, J. -L

How service users and carers understand, perceive, rephrase, and communicate about “depressive episode” and “schizophrenia” diagnoses: an international participatory research

Background: For ICD-11, the WHO emphasized the clinical utility of communication and the need to involve service users and carers in the revision process. Aims: The objective was to assess whether medical vocabulary was accessible, which kinds of feelings it activated, whether and how users and carers would like to rephrase terms, and whether they used diagnosis to talk about mental health experiences. Method: An innovative protocol focused on two diagnoses (depressive episode and schizophrenia) was implemented in 15 different countries. The same issues were discussed with users and carers: understanding, feelings, rephrasing, and communication. Results: Most participants reported understanding the diagnoses, but associated them with negative feelings. While the negativity of “depressive episode” mostly came from the concept itself, that of “schizophrenia” was largely based on its social impact and stigmatization associated with “mental illness”. When rephrasing “depressive episode”, a majority kept the root “depress*”, and suppressed the temporal dimension or renamed it. Almost no one suggested a reformulation based on “schizophrenia”. Finally, when communicating, no one used the phrase “depressive episode”. Some participants used words based on “depress”, but no one mentioned “episode”. Very few used “schizophrenia”. Conclusion: Data revealed a gap between concepts and emotional and cognitive experiences. Both professional and experiential language and knowledge have to be considered as complementary. Consequently, the ICD should be co-constructed by professionals, service users, and carers. It should take the emotional component of language, and the diversity of linguistic and cultural contexts, into account