tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post5042464124620833427..comments2024-03-28T09:59:51.779-05:00Comments on Family Dysfunction and Mental Health Blog: Book Review: The Kevin Show by Mary PilonDavid M. Allen M.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-8370957090765287502019-05-26T21:52:47.277-05:002019-05-26T21:52:47.277-05:00Something like that is probably the reason that fo...Something like that is probably the reason that for decades Black folks who had a psychotic bipolar episode were often misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia. And perhaps also some who were not psychotic at all!David M. Allen M.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06280912088483192599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3125132926699584358.post-61056893084840940822019-05-26T19:38:55.661-05:002019-05-26T19:38:55.661-05:00"Pointing out the cultural differences as a p..."Pointing out the cultural differences as a possible reason that bipolar is not a real brain disease is a bit like doing the same by pointing out that the delusions of Japanese people are expressed and thought about in the Japanese language, while the delusions of Spanish people are expressed and thought about in Spanish."<br /><br />Diagnosing mental illness is done through interpretation, however, not a biological test, meaning that someone *could* be diagnosed as ill for speaking Spanish in Japan (or vice versa) say if the psychiatrist somehow did not know of the existence of other languages and interpreted their speech as word salad. (Supposedly there was a Hungarian POW from World War Two who was held in a Soviet asylum for almost forty years for this reason; he was released when a visiting Hungarian psychiatrist told his captors he was just speaking Hungarian).Oliverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16553105730593842429noreply@blogger.com