Indigenous Knowledge and Community Mental Health in Kalamazoo County: A Qualitative Study
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Authors
Frazer, Patricia A.
Issue Date
1994
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study, completed over a three month period in
Kalamazoo County, is a part of a larger ethnographic
research project designed to change the perceptions and
stigmas given mentally ill adults. This research will also
demonstrate how successful mentally ill people live with
their illness. The focus of this paper is on the
"indigenous knowledge" that successful mentally ill adults
have by nature of being mentally ill and how they can be
considered as experts of how to live with a mental illness.
This knowledge makes them experts in the area of mental
illness. Here, the term successful mentally ill people
refers to those mentally ill people who are successfully
living, integrated into the community and maintain their
mental health in order to stay healthy and out of mental
institutions.
After analyzing the data I will discuss why members of
the mentally ill community are experts in the area of mental
health by explaining various strategies used to cope with
mental illness and tactics they use to integrate themselves
into society. I will also explain how the services provided
to mentally ill people are generally in conflict with what
helps them to do well and be healthy as they try to maintain
'normal' status in the community. This will be followed by
an analysis of how the current mental health system is
trying to meet the needs of its consumers. This will
include a description of an innovative service agency that
seems to be meeting the needs of mentally ill people as they
try to integrate and maintain 'normal' status in the
community. Finally, I will conclude with suggestions and
recommendations on how to better meet the needs of mentally
ill people.
Description
44 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College.
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.