Bodily Self-Disturbances in Schizophrenia : A Comparative Study of South Korea and the USA

© 2021 S. Karger AG, Basel..

BACKGROUND: Bodily self-disturbances are highly salient to the phenomenology of schizophrenia (SZ) but difficult to quantify owing to the subjective nature of these experiences that challenge verbal descriptions. The Benson et al. [PsyCh J. 2019 Mar;8(1):110-21] Body Disturbances Inventory (B-BODI) provides visual aids to help participants access the frequency, distressfulness, and vividness of subjective self-experiences with good reliability and validity in North American samples. However, the concept of the self and, accordingly, the conceptualization of self-disorders are influenced by culture. Therefore, we examined self-disturbances in individuals with SZ and control (CO) participants in 2 distinct cultures.

METHODS: B-BODI was administered to South Korean and North American participants, with and without SZ. Severity of symptoms in diagnosed individuals with SZ and schizotypy in CO was assessed. We also assessed perceived social isolation and mood in all participants.

RESULTS: Endorsement and frequency of bodily self-disturbances in SZ were similar in both cultures. In contrast, there were significant cultural differences in the degree of distress and vividness of self-disturbances. Bodily self-disturbances were experienced as more vivid and distressing to Americans than Koreans, regardless of diagnosis. For both cultures, B-BODI scores were associated with positive, but not negative, symptoms in SZ. For CO, elevated schizotypy was associated with B-BODI scores. Mood and loneliness were not associated with B-BODI scores.

CONCLUSION: SZ reported overall increased levels of bodily self-disturbances compared with CO, regardless of culture. However, there were cultural differences in one's emotional reaction to these experiences. Americans were more distressed by self-disturbances and experienced them more vividly than Koreans. These findings suggest that Americans may be less accepting of anomalous bodily self-experiences relative to Koreans. Last, B-BODI appears to be a useful tool for future cross-cultural studies of SZ phenomenology.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:54

Enthalten in:

Psychopathology - 54(2021), 5 vom: 15., Seite 262-274

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Lee, Hyeon-Seung [VerfasserIn]
Griffith, Taylor [VerfasserIn]
Park, Sohee [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Basic symptoms
Cross-cultural comparison
Delusions
Depersonalization
Dissociations
Hallucinations
Journal Article
Phenomenology
Schizophrenia
Schizotypy
Self-disorder

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 25.11.2021

Date Revised 25.11.2021

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1159/000517933

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM329240331