When studying psychology, it is important to understand and note that culture influences the prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders. Cross-cultural psychology sheds light on which aspects of the human condition are universal and which are tied to specific cultures. Each culture has its own way of measuring psychological disorders, from version five of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in the United States to the absence of standards in many indigenous cultures. However, some abnormal psychological disorders are universal, meaning that all humans are capable of expressing symptoms, but different cultures deal with these symptoms in different ways. This in turn affects the prevalence, accuracy and quantity of diagnoses of psychological disorders, as well as treatments and stigma for those affected. One psychological disorder in particular, panic disorder, characterized by intense episodes of fear that manifest in both physical and mental symptoms, is an abnormal psychological disorder that is identified and managed differently cross-culturally and between genders. Panic disorder is a universal condition for humans, but it is not universal in the study of psychology because Western cultures have a higher prevalence of reported cases of people with panic disorder and women tend to suffer from it more frequently than men. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Panic disorder is an abnormal psychological disorder in which people suffer from episodes of extreme fear. This fear leads them to express various physical symptoms including heart palpitations, rapid heartbeat, sweating, tremors, feelings of shortness of breath, feeling of suffocation, chest pain, nausea, feeling dizzy or faint, chills or hot flashes, and even paresthesia. It also causes mental symptoms including feelings of unreality or depersonalization, fear of losing control or going crazy, and fear of dying (Katzman, 2014; Lambert, 2015). According to the DSM-5, to be diagnosed with panic disorder, the individual must suffer from at least four of these symptoms, in addition to having unexpected panic attacks, of which at least one leads to at least a month of extreme worry. who will have another panic attack or a month of negative behavioral change (Katzman, 2014). However, an individual may still suffer from panic disorder if panic attacks are expected. Both expected and unexpected panic attacks can cause agoraphobia, in which the afflicted person fears panic-inducing environments (Johnson). The number of symptoms and the different ways in which panic disorder can be expressed make the initial diagnosis complicated. There are over 13 symptoms and therefore “over 700 possible combinations of four symptoms”, meaning that it is difficult to create a framework for classifying the disorder (Lambert, 2015). All people experience a combination of symptoms at one time or another, but panic disorder is not universal even in the diagnostic phase because the criteria that must be met to make a concrete diagnosis vary. The causes and prevalence of panic disorder are also varied. Panic tends to be “an adaptive survival response” to a perceived threat that leads to a fight-or-flight decision. The body physically reacts to the threat so that it can be strong enough to fight or run away (Johnson). When this response occurs in reaction to something that is not immediately threatening, then a person is having a panic attack. If these attacks are frequent and affect your lifedaily, then you suffer from panic disorder. Sometimes, however, someone may have frequent panic attacks and not have any anxiety disorder (Na, 2011). This causes statistics on panic attacks and panic disorder to be separated. It is estimated that panic attacks occur in the lifetime of 22.7% of people, while actual panic disorder occurs in only 4.7% (Na, 2011; Katzman, 2014). Approximately 10% “of the general population will have a panic attack without ever developing” panic or another disorder (Katzman, 2014). If we take risk into account, we find that the theoretical risk of developing panic disorder is higher than the experimental reality and that the risk varies between cultures. The “predicted lifetime risk is proportionately 17% to 69% higher than the estimated lifetime prevalence… with the highest ratios in countries exposed to sectarian violence (Israel, Nigeria and South Africa) and a trend overall for the risk predicted to be higher in recent cohorts in all countries” (R). Another factor distorting panic disorder is that the average age of onset is relatively early, and children who develop the disorder usually also develop other psychological disorders (Katzman, 2014). This causes panic disorder to be underdiagnosed and misunderstood. Panic disorder is caused by both natural and cultural factors, including genetics and child development. This is the main reason why the disorder is not universal cross-culturally. Most cultures have different social contexts, and genes do not usually cross interracial boundaries. More than six studies have shown a correlation between a gene and a 5.7 to 17.3% increase in the risk of suffering from panic disorder in individuals with family members who are affected. Goldstein et al. determined that first-degree relatives of people with panic disorder are 17 times more likely to suffer from panic disorder at age 20, and 6 times more likely after age 20, compared to nonrelatives, and that c There is about an 11% chance that they will develop it (Na, 2011; Johnson, 2014). Psychologists have determined that there are more than “1000 polymorphisms and 350 candidate genes” associated with panic disorder (Johnson, 2014). This further emphasizes that panic disorder is not universal but widespread and possible for all humans, because it can be expressed due to a number of different genetic combinations, however there are numerous genetic sequences that can cause panic disorder. Another example of how universally non-universal panic disorder is is that a European study found that the genetic sequence rs7309727-rs11060369 is directly related to panic disorder. However, this genetic sequence did not cause panic disorder when present in Japanese subjects, but only in European subjects. The TMEM132D gene had a high correlation in causing panic disorder in Europeans, but did not cause panic disorder in any Japanese subjects (Erhardt, 2012). This means that nature and nurture must combine for a gene to have a certain expression. Genetics alone do not cause disorders, but culture, combined with family history and predisposition, does. Panic disorder “develops within a developmental and social context, where childhood learning and experiences such as separation and associated anxiety may predispose a child to later [panic disorders]…Environmental influences both at within the family, both in work and more general social environments can also influence levels of anticipatory or reactive anxiety” (Lambert, 2015). Panic disorder can occur anywhere, but it only occurs in some cultures and in individuals from those cultureswhich have specific genetic codes that lead to this particular psychological disorder. There is also a marked gender difference in the prevalence of panic disorder regardless of culture. More women suffer from panic disorder than men and they begin to experience it at a younger average age. Women were twice as likely to have panic disorder as men (Katzman, 2014; Na, 2011; Johnson, 2014). Women experience it at an early age due to hormonal fluctuations and “factors such as early stress or a higher incidence of trauma such as sexual abuse or domestic violence” (Johnson, 2014). Females are also genetically predisposed to panic disorder due to the high activity COMT 158val allele in females (Na, 2011). This extreme difference between men and women regarding the frequency of panic disorder makes it difficult to conduct universal studies because most subjects are typically women. 70% of subjects with panic disorder in one study were women, and their average age was approximately 40 years (Teachman, 2010). Gender is not the only variable factor among panic disorder patients. Cultural diversity, age of onset, false suffocation alarms, whether or not someone is fearful in a classification system, respiratory and hyperventilation subtypes, personality, and inhibitions also affect the likelihood of an individual suffering of panic disorder (Lambert, 2015). Although these different factors are universal in the sense that all people fall on a scale for each of them, the fact that panic disorder is only found in certain combinations of these factors makes it non-universal. Panic disorder is more prevalent in “middle-aged” women – older adults, widowed/divorced people, and low-income people." However, a study conducted by the Canadian Community Health Survey found that there was no difference in the prevalence of panic disorder. panic in rural societies compared to urban ones (Katzman, 2014). While the urbanization of culture does not necessarily play a role in panic disorder, the race of those affected does. One study showed that of a group of subjects with panic disorder panic, 91% were Caucasian, 5% African American, 2.3% biracial, and 2.3% reported that their race was different from these three options (Teachman, 2010). genetic differences between Caucasians and Asians suffering from panic disorder. The COMT 158val and 158met alleles vary in subjects of these cultures (Na, 2011). Therefore, not only do different cultures lead to a different level of frequency of panic disorder, but they also lead to different genetic expressions that change whether or not panic disorder is linked to certain deoxyribonucleic acid sequences within each culture or, more generally, each race. Cultures have different values ​​and beliefs which also lead to different ways of perceiving psychological disorders, as well as different levels of prevalence of panic disorder specifically. In Asian cultures, some of the symptoms of panic disorder, including dizziness, unsteadiness, choking, and feelings of terror, are reported more often than other symptoms. Asian subjects also reported these specific symptoms more often than Caucasian subjects. Additionally, African Americans with panic disorder do not report nervousness as much as Caucasians (Barrera, 2010). However, the symptoms themselves are not more severe in any culture because the disorder does the same thing to all humans who are affected by it. In this sense, panic disorder is universal, but remains non-universal due to how different cultures report symptoms and how negatively they vieweach symptom. Some cultures, including African Americans, do not think that some symptoms are as severe as Caucasians and Asians when they experienced the same symptoms, which shows that cultural context is vital in understanding whether someone suffers from panic disorder and how to classify it I disturb. /your symptoms. Furthermore, “African Americans tend to be more ashamed of their panic symptoms than Caucasians. It may be that individuals who identify as African American are reluctant to admit the interference and distress related to panic symptoms for fear of being labeled “crazy” (Barrera, 2010). African American culture and its subcultures are particularly noteworthy when it comes to how they deal with panic disorder. “Individuals identifying as African-American were more likely to experience tingling sensations and numbness in the extremities, as well as the fear of death or dying.”freak out during panic attacks than individuals identifying as European-American. It has been suggested that tingling and numbness in the extremities may be of particular concern for individuals who identify as African American due to the high rates of diabetes, hypertension, and foot amputations within this group” (Barrera, 2010) . Predispositions to different symptoms in different cultures explain why panic disorder varies from one culture to another even if it manifests itself with the same symptoms regardless of the individual human being. There are social and biological predispositions. “[M]all African American children are socialized to expect hostility, irrational restrictions, insults, and unfair treatment based on the color of their skin. To counter these predictable trends, African American children are taught to develop high levels of tolerance for unjust acts” (Levine, 2013). This is relevant because it causes African Americans to have thicker skin and be less likely to have panic attacks in situations where they might be faced with a hostile person. All people are capable of building this tolerance, but it is stronger in some cultures than others, which means it is not universal. African subcultures vary from each other as much as they vary from other racial cultures. Africans in Caribbean and Cambodian cultures display unique statistics and beliefs. Black men are more likely to develop panic disorder in the Caribbean than in American culture, but black women in America are more likely to develop panic disorder than in Caribbean culture. Overall, 3.5% of African Americans suffer from panic disorder, but 4.1% of Caribbean Blacks suffer from it (Levine, 2013). The internal diversity of African culture reinforces the fact that panic disorder is not a universal psychological disorder although it exists globally. Cambodians have unique beliefs that distort their recognition of panic symptoms. Cambodians believe in khyâl which is an energetic force that moves through the circulatory system, so they panic when they feel dizzy because they think this force will kill them. Westerners, however, see dizziness as a sign of stroke or other health problems (Barrera, 2010). Therefore, some cultures are much more afraid of certain symptoms due to the beliefs that their culture holds. There are also differences between Hispanic and Caucasian cultures. Hispanics report physical symptoms more than Caucasians, who tend to report more mental symptoms. This does not mean that they do not recognize mental symptoms, but rather that their society despises mental disorders while physical disorders are part of an accepted normality (Barrera, 2010).