Title |
Class-Based Chronicities of Suffering and Seeking Help: Comparing Addiction Treatment Programs in Uganda
|
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Published in |
Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, May 2017
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DOI | 10.1007/s11013-017-9541-z |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Julia Vorhölter |
Abstract |
Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article looks at changing discourses and practices in the field of mental health care in Uganda. In particular, it analyzes two psychotherapeutic institutions designed to treat drug- and alcohol-addiction, and their accessibility and affordability for people from different class backgrounds. The first center is a high-class residential facility near Kampala which offers state-of-the-art addiction therapy, but is affordable only for the rich. The second center, a church-funded organization in Northern Uganda, cares mainly for people from poor, rural families who cannot afford exp/tensive treatment. Comparing the two centers provides important insights not only into the temporalities of mental illness, substance abuse and mental health care, but also into broader socio-economic dynamics and understandings of suffering in contemporary Uganda. The term 'class-based chronicities' refers to the way both the urgency with which people seek treatment (when has someone suffered enough?) and the length of treatment they receive (when is someone considered 'recovered'?) are highly class-dependent. On a theoretical level, the article shows how psychotherapeutic models operate as philosophical systems which not only impact on treatment practices, but also produce different addiction entities and addiction-related subjectivities. As such, it contributes to an emerging anthropology of addiction. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 60 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 8 | 13% |
Researcher | 6 | 10% |
Student > Bachelor | 4 | 7% |
Lecturer | 3 | 5% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 5% |
Other | 11 | 18% |
Unknown | 25 | 42% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 10 | 17% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 8 | 13% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 5 | 8% |
Social Sciences | 3 | 5% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 2 | 3% |
Other | 4 | 7% |
Unknown | 28 | 47% |