#498 Kristen Syme: Mental Disorders and Suicide From an Anthropological Perspective

<p>------------------Support the channel------------</p> <p>Patreon: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter">https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter</a></p> <p>PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter</p> <p>PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy">https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy</a></p> <p>PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l">https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l</a></p> <p>PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz">https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz</a></p> <p>PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m">https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m</a></p> <p>PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao">https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao</a></p> <p><br></p> <p>This show is sponsored by Enlites, Learning &amp; Development done differently. Check the website here: <a href="http://enlites.com/">http://enlites.com/</a></p> <p><br></p> <p>Dr. Kristen Syme is research associate at the Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She received her BA in anthropology from the University of Delaware where she developed an interest in using evolutionary theory to investigate mental health and behavioral phenomena that are diagnosed and treated as diseases and deviations according to the Western medical paradigm. She conducted her MA research on suicidal behavior in 53 cultures and received her MA in 2014. Her research interests broadly concern the evolved interpersonal functions of psychological and behavioral phenomena. Her MA thesis tested two evolutionary models of suicidal behavior against the ethnographic record, and my dissertation research is a continuation of this project.</p> <p>In this episode, we talk about mental disorders from an anthropological perspective, suicidal behavior, and leadership. We start by mentioning how to think about mental disorders as cultural constructs. We discuss mental illness in modern society. We ask if mental disorders are diseases. We then get into suicide, a