Voice hearing as a social barometer: Benevolent persuasion, ancestral spirits, and politics in the voices of psychosis in Shanghai, China
Dados Bibliográficos
| AUTOR(ES) | |
|---|---|
| AFILIAÇÃO(ÕES) | Department of Psychological Medicine, Dongfang Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Shanghai Pudong New Area Mental Health Center, Tongji University Dongfang Hospital, Shanghai, China, Department of Anthropology, Stanford, Stanford, USA |
| ANO | 2025 |
| TIPO | Artigo |
| PERIÓDICO | Transcultural Psychiatry |
| ISSN | 1363-4615 |
| E-ISSN | 1461-7471 |
| EDITORA | Annual Reviews (United States) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13634615231202090 |
| CITAÇÕES | 3 |
| ADICIONADO EM | 2025-08-18 |
Resumo
The comparative study of voice hearing is in its early stages. This approach is important due to the observation that the content of voices differs across different settings, which suggests that voice hearing may respond to cultural invitation and, ultimately, to learning. Our interview-based study found that persons diagnosed with schizophrenia in China (Shanghai), compared to those diagnosed with schizophrenia in the United States, Ghana, and India, reported voices that were strikingly concerned with politics. Compared to participants in the United States in particular, voices seemed to be experienced more relationally: Shanghai participants reported voices notable for a sense of benevolent persuasion rather than harsh command, and knew the identities of their voices more so than in the United States. The voices were striking as well for their religious content, despite the previous prohibition of religion in China. Our findings further support the hypothesis that voice hearing seems to be shaped by context, and we observe that this shaping may affect not only conceptual content but the emotional valence of the experience.