The Culture of Emotions 2002
Distributed by Fanlight Productions, 32 Court St., 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 800-876-1710
Produced by Harriet Koskoff
Directed by Harriet Koskoff
VHS, color, 54 min.
College
Psychology, Health Sciences, Psychiatry, Social Work
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Lori Widzinski, Health Sciences Library, University at Buffalo, State University of New York“…neither personality nor human nature exists apart from culture.” This quote from the opening moments of The Culture of Emotion, underscores the importance and the complexity an individual’s cultural identity presents for the healthcare provider. This program focuses on mental and emotional health and is targeted to the mental/behavioral healthcare provider.
Using the DSM-IV system as a basis, The Culture of Emotions provides an outline, (The DSM-IV Outline for Cultural Formation) divided into five parts to help break down and deal with the multiple layers of cultural identity. The first section concentrates on identifying the culture of the individual or patient. This includes not only racial, ethnic, religious identifiers but also economic, historic, and gender factors. The second is cultural explanations of individual illness – such issues as the predominant idioms of distress and the meaning and severity of symptoms in relation to culture. Third on the outline is cultural factors related to psychosocial environment and levels of functioning. This area covers, among others issues, social stressors, social supports and religion and kin relationships. Fourth is cultural elements of the relationship between the individual and the clinician, looking at the clinician’s own cultural background and how to relate to someone from an entirely different culture. The fifth part of the outline takes all the previous four sections into consideration. It is named cultural assessment for diagnosis and care. At this stage diagnosis and treatment plans are created.
As each section of the outline is introduced, it is followed by examples and explanations from doctors, researchers, and clinicians from top-notch U.S. institutions. Concrete situations are presented many with suggestions for applying a certain approach to a variety of different cultural experiences.
This is a first-rate program and is recommended for upper level university students and practicing clinicans. In an educational setting it would work best in segments with discussion. Not only is the one-hour time length a bit long for a single class or training session, (particularly with the talking head documentary format) the program is jam packed with excellent information that is more easily tackled in smaller doses.