IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v43y1997i3p175-183.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Comparison of Public Attitudes in Britain and Saudi Arabia Towards Auditory Hallucinations

Author

Listed:
  • Saheed Wahass

    (Department of Psychiatry, King Fahd Hospital of King Faisal University, PO Box 40185, Al-Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia)

  • Gerry Kent

    (Kent, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S 10 2TP, UK)

Abstract

Background. The successful introduction of community interventions is partly dependent on public beliefs about the aetiology and treatment of psychiatric difficulties and tolerance of community integration. Method. This study examined community attitudes towards auditory hallucinations in Saudi Arabia (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK) concerning (a) causes of auditory hallucinations, (b) the efficacy of interventions and (c) levels of social rejection. Results. Responses from 281 patients attending their general practitioners indicated that those living in Saudi Arabia were most likely to believe that hallucinations are caused by Satan or due to magic, while the UK sample were more likely to cite schizophrenia or brain damage. While the Saudi sample believed that religious assistance would be most effective, the UK sample supported medication and psychological therapies. Beliefs about aetiology and treatment were unrelated to educational attainment. There was a greater degree of social rejection of patients in Saudi Arabia, but here educational attainment was of significance. Conclusions. These results suggest that beliefs about aetiology are related to treatment recommendations and social distancing, and thus have implications for the care of Arabic patients living in Western countries as well as for the use of Western interventions in non- Western cultures.

Suggested Citation

  • Saheed Wahass & Gerry Kent, 1997. "A Comparison of Public Attitudes in Britain and Saudi Arabia Towards Auditory Hallucinations," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 43(3), pages 175-183, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:43:y:1997:i:3:p:175-183
    DOI: 10.1177/002076409704300303
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002076409704300303
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/002076409704300303?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S.T.C. Ilechukwu, 1988. "Inter-Relationships of Beliefs About Mental Illness, Psychiatric Diagnoses and Mental Health Care Delivery Among Africans," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 34(3), pages 200-206, September.
    2. Thomas L. Chiu, 1994. "The Unique Challenges Faced By Psychiatrists and Other Mental Health Professionals Working in a Multicultural Setting," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 40(1), pages 61-74, March.
    3. A. Furnham & R. Malik, 1994. "Cross-Cultural Beliefs About "Depression"," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 40(2), pages 106-123, June.
    4. Haluk Arkar & DoÄŸan Eker, 1994. "Effect of Psychiatric Labels On Attitudes Toward Mental Illness in a Turkish Sample," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 40(3), pages 205-213, September.
    5. M. Fakhr El-Islam & Sanaa I. Abu-Dagga, 1992. "Lay Explanations of Symptoms of Mental Ill Health in Kuwait," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 38(2), pages 150-156, June.
    6. Adrian Furnham & Joanna Rees, 1988. "Lay Theories of Schizophrenia," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 34(3), pages 212-220, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adrian Furnham & Anuli Igboaka, 2007. "Young People's Recognition and Understanding of Schizophrenia: a Cross-Cultural Study of Young People From Britain and Nigeria," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 53(5), pages 430-446, September.
    2. Alean Al-Krenawi & John R. Graham & Menachim Ophir & Jamil Kandah, 2001. "Ethnic and Gender Differences in Mental Health Utilization: the Case of Muslim Jordanian and Moroccan Jewish Israeli Out-Patient Psychiatric Patients," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 47(3), pages 42-54, September.
    3. Viren Swami & Adrian Furnham & Kumaraswami Kannan & Dhachayani Sinniah, 2008. "Beliefs About Schizophrenia and Its Treatment in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 54(2), pages 164-179, March.
    4. Sean B Nine & Abdul Fattah Najm & Emily B Allan & Petra C Gronholm, 2022. "Mental health stigma among community members in Afghanistan: A cross-sectional survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 68(7), pages 1470-1485, November.
    5. Ugo Ikwuka & Niall Galbraith & Lovemore Nyatanga, 2014. "Causal attribution of mental illness in south-eastern Nigeria," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(3), pages 274-279, May.
    6. Stephanie Cormack & Adrian Furnham, 1998. "Psychiatric Labelling, Sex Role Stereotypes and Beliefs About the Mentally Ill," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 44(4), pages 235-247, December.
    7. Alean Al-Krenawi, 1999. "Explanations of Mental Health Symptoms By the Bedouin-Arabs of the Negev," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 45(1), pages 56-64, March.
    8. Rena Jobanputra & Adrian F. Furnham, 2005. "British Gujarati Indian Immigrants' and British Caucasians' Beliefs about Health and Illness," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 51(4), pages 350-364, December.
    9. Adrian Furnham & Masako Murao, 2000. "A Cross-Cultural Comparison of British and Japanese Lay Theories of Schizophrenia," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 46(1), pages 4-20, March.
    10. Krishnakshi Dutt & Martin Webber, 2010. "Access to Social Capital and Social Support Among South East Asian Women With Severe Mental Health Problems: a Cross-Sectional Survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 56(6), pages 593-605, November.
    11. Adrian Furnham & William Ritchie & Alixe Lay, 2016. "Beliefs about the causes and cures of depression," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 62(5), pages 415-424, August.
    12. Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar & Joshua Breslau & Stephen E Gilman, 2015. "Beliefs about the causes of schizophrenia among Aymara and non-Aymara patients and their primary caregivers in the Central–Southern Andes," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 61(1), pages 82-91, February.
    13. Mehmet Eskin, 1989. "Rural Population's Opinions About the Causes of Mental Illness, Modern Psychiatric Help-Sources and Traditional Healers in Turkey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 35(4), pages 324-328, December.
    14. Adrian Furnham & Elizabeth Anthony, 2010. "Lay Theories of Bipolar Disorder: the Causes, Manifestations and Cures for Perceived Bipolar Disorder," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 56(3), pages 255-269, May.
    15. Audrey Neauport & Rachel F. Rodgers & Naomi M. Simon & Philippe J. Birmes & Laurent Schmitt & Eric Bui, 2012. "Effects of a psychiatric label on medical residents’ attitudes," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 58(5), pages 485-487, September.
    16. Kaiser, Bonnie N. & Haroz, Emily E. & Kohrt, Brandon A. & Bolton, Paul A. & Bass, Judith K. & Hinton, Devon E., 2015. "“Thinking too much”: A systematic review of a common idiom of distress," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 170-183.
    17. Adrian Furnham & Helen Cheng, 2000. "Lay Theories of Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 227-246, June.
    18. Jale Yazar & Roland Littlewood, 2001. "Against Over-Interpretation: the Understanding of Pain Amongst Turkish and Kurdish Speakers in London," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 47(2), pages 20-33, June.
    19. Rashda Tabassum & Ann Macaskill & Iftikhar Ahmad, 2000. "Attitudes Towards Mental Health in an Urban Pakistani Community in the United Kingdom," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 46(3), pages 170-181, September.
    20. Samir Al-Adawi & Atsu S.S. Dorvlo & Suad S. Al-Ismaily & Dalal A. Al-Ghafry & Balquis Z. Al-Noobi & Ahmed Al-Salmi & David T. Burke & Mrugeshkumar K. Shah & Harith Ghassany & Suma P. Chand, 2002. "Perception of and Attitude towards Mental Illness in Oman," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 48(4), pages 305-317, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:43:y:1997:i:3:p:175-183. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.