Conception and Treatment of Psychopathology in an Egyptian Village

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Conception and Treatment of Psychopathology in an Egyptian Village
Author:	Morsy, Soheir A.
Year:	1980
Periodical:	Rural Africana
Volume:	8-9
Period:	Fall/Winter
Pages:	67-75
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Egypt
Subjects:	healers psychotherapy Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Health and Nutrition
Abstract:	This article examines conceptions and treatment of psychopathology in the Egyptian village of FatiHa in contrast to the biomedical difinition and management of such affliction. Initially, attention is directed to local concepts of sickness that form the underlying logic of healing practices in their various forms. Following the clarification of local definitions of sickness in general and psychopathology in particular and an examination of the ethnomedical system of taxonomy, the latter part of the article is devoted to a survey of indigenous healing forms in the village. It describes forms of prevention and treatment of sickness within the popular and folk arenas of health care. Finally, attention is directed to the dynamics of health care in the village; note is made of the lack of perfect correspondence between explanations of illnes and the therapeutic program pursued in specific cases of illness. Indeed, the study of therapeutic strategies in the study community reveals that illness classifications, as isolated cognitive domains, differ from actual responses to specific illness crisis. Notes, ref.