Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder in the City of São Paulo: an anthropological analysis

• Grant number: 07/04264-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: October 01, 2007 - March 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health
• Principal Investigator: Denise Martin Coviello
• Grantee: Denise Martin Coviello
• Host Institution: Departamento de Psiquiatria. Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious illness within the area of mental health, to the extent that it is considered the principle diagnostic attributable to external causes (accidents and violence). Various epidemiological studies demonstrate the relationship between PTSD and urban violence in PTSD prevalency rates. Moreover, PTSD affects the daily lives of patients in terms of their ability to function in social and occupational spheres, as well as participate and experience in other important aspects of their lives. This research aims to understand, from an anthropological perspective, the cultural construction of PTSD based on the daily lives of the patients who suffer from the psychological consequences of their own highly traumatic experiences. Field research will be undertaken through the Programa de Atendimento às Vítimas de Violência (PROVE/UNIFESP), which will offer assistance to victims of trauma associated with violence. The objectives of the program are to attend to people who exhibit symptoms of PTSD in particular and realize through scientific studies, the possibility of improving methods for attending to this condition. The analysis plans to approach the type of psychological manifestations associated with violence, within the context of patients’ daily lives and their relationships to society. The research aims to understand how these manifestations evolve culturally by way of how PTSD is socially represented and what the implications are in regards to notions of health, illness and life in general. The intention is to contribute to the interlocution of Anthropology and Psychiatry in an effort to inform integrated interventions, which more appropriately take into account the cultural context in which this population lives. (AU)