"Disorder or Special Ability?" The Traditional Javanese Perception on Schizophrenia Symptoms

Indonesia is well-known as a cultural country. There are so many Indonesian people who still believe in mystical and magical things, therefore people are often not aware of psychosis disorders such as schizophrenia. Many... [ view full abstract ]

Indonesia is well-known as a cultural country. There are so many Indonesian people who still believe in mystical and magical things, therefore people are often not aware of psychosis disorders such as schizophrenia. Many sufferers of schizophrenia are too late diagnosed because the symptoms of schizophrenia are often misunderstood by Indonesian people as a "special ability" to see something magical beyond our capabilities and abilities as human beings. Even a Javanese schizophrenia patient was diagnosed suffering from schizophrenia after 15 years of suffer because her family thought that she had divine power to see what other people can't see. We found that the misperception of traditional Javanese people to schizophrenia symptoms such as hallucination, delusion, and other symptoms of schizophrenia as a "special ability" is the main cause of late diagnose of schizophrenia. This qualitative study was aimed to explore and understand what schizophrenia patients' families and neighbors thought of the symptoms of schizophrenia before they knew that someone around them was actually suffering from schizophrenia.

keywords: culture, schizophrenia, symptoms