Cultural Dysthymia: An Unrecognized Disorder Among African Americans?

✍ Scribed by Clemmont E. Vontress; Calvin E. Woodland; Lawrence Epp

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 132 KB
• Volume: 35
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0883-8534
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-1912.2007.tb00055.x

✦ Synopsis

Many African Americans experience low‐grade depression, referred to as dysthymia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). After more than 250 years of enslavement, prejudice, and discrimination, dysthymia is reflected in chronic low‐grade sadness, anger, hostility, aggression, self‐hatred, hopelessness, and self‐destructive behaviors. To avoid misdiagnosis, counselors need to understand how cultural factors can elicit a collective psychological condition in an oppressed group.

Muchos Afroamericanos experimentan depresión leve, llamada distimia en el Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4a ed., texto rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Después de más de 250 años de esclavitud, prejuicio y discriminación, la distimia se refleja como tristeza crónica leve, ira, hostilidad, agresividad, odio a uno mismo, desesperanza y comportamientos autodestructivos. Para evitar un diagnóstico erróneo, los consejeros deben comprender cómo los factores culturales pueden acarrear una condición psicológica colectiva en un grupo oprimido.