Author/Editor		Zaviršek, D
Title		Psihiatrični oddelek med boleznijo in njeno kulturno manifestacijo
Translated title		Psychiatric department between illness and its cultural manifestations
Type		članek
Source		Soc Delo
Vol. and No.		Letnik 33, št. 1
Publication year		1994
Volume		str. 39-49
Language		slo
Abstract		The article is based on anthropological research at the women's department of the psychiatric hospital in Ljubljana. The first part of the study deals with culturally specific and gender determined forms of mental distress. In Slovenia, it is characteristic for men to be dependent on alcohol and commit suicide, and for women, to be depressed and to attempt suicide. Since the traditional peasant mentality is prevailing, people somatize their distress and seldom talk in idioms of psychic feelings. The described cultural model is important for the microanalysis of female users of the psychiatric hospital and for the planning of new psychosocial services. The research proceeded in the forms of questionnary, collecting life stories and key events as well as in the form of engaged observation. A reflection of the research proves that anthropological research is always in the cross-section between the biographies of "the others" and one's own autobiography. To collect biographies is to shift the boundary between the researcher and the informer; it is to mediate among different realities. However, the very listening to individual stories and languages can lead us to uncover the needs of different groups of psychiatry users.
Descriptors		MENTAL DISORDERS PUBLIC OPINION CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON