Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-8zxtt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T06:14:11.078Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chamorro Perspectives on Mental Health Issues in Guam: Cross-Currents of Indigenous and Western Cultural Discourses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

Iain K. B. Twaddle ,
J. Peter Roberto  and
Ladisa D. Quintanilla
Iain K. B. Twaddle*
Affiliation:
University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam
J. Peter Roberto
Affiliation:
University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam
Ladisa D. Quintanilla
Affiliation:
Economic Opportunity Committee of Clark County, Inc., Vancouver, Washington
*
Ph.D.Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Guam, UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam, U.S.A. 96923, Telephone: (671) 735-2882; Fax: (671) 734-5255; E-mail; itwaddle@uog9.uog.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In order to promote cultural sensitivity in addressing mental health problems among the Chamorro people of Guam, the authors conducted a study aimed at exploring indigenous Chamorro alternatives to Western mental health theory. In tape-recorded interviews, thirty Chamorro participants shared their thoughts on Guam's psychosocial problems and the various ways in which Chamorros describe, explain, and address these problems now and historically. The resulting narratives were analyzed through a multi-layered process involving a number of Chamorro and non-Chamorro researchers and the participants themselves. In the spirit of participatory research, direct quotations from the interviews were woven into a synthesized cultural narrative highlighting a multiplicity of participant perspectives. This narrative examines substance abuse, violence, youth and family problems, and socially “bizarre” behavior in the context of cultural changes resulting from modernity and Westernization. The narrative also outlines Chamorro indigenous approaches to helping and healing, including family support, community support, and the use of traditional healers, as well as Chamorro views on Western mental health services. Discussion focuses on the role of mental health discourse in contemporary Chamorro culture.

Keywords

GuamChamorroindigenous peoplesculturemental healthnarrative.
Type
Qualitative Research/Case Studies
Information
South Pacific Journal of Psychology , Volume 14 , 2003 , pp. 30 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © University of Papua New Guinea and Massey University, New Zealand/Aotearoa 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albee, G. W. (1982). Preventing psychopathology and promoting human potential. American Psychologist, 37, 1043–1050.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Albee, G. W. (1986). Toward a just society: Lessons from observations on the primary prevention of psychopathology. American Psychologist, 41, 891–898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alkire, W. H. (1977). An introduction to the peoples and cultures of Micronesia (2nd ed.). Menlo Park, CA: Cummings.Google Scholar
Allan, A. T., Tydingco, P., & Perez, V. (1985). Clinical aspects of cultural psychiatry on Guam. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 31, 198–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Beit-Hallahmi, B. (1974). Salvation and its vicissitudes: Clinical psychology and political values. American Psychologist, 29, 124–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berger, K., & Kytle, J. (1985). Problems of psychotherapy in corporate capitalism. Catalyst, 19, 11–29.Google Scholar
Clifford, J. (1988). The predicament of culture: Twentieth century ethnography, literature, and art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Clifford, J. (1992). Traveling cultures. In Grossberg, L., Nelson, C., & Treichler, P. (Eds.), Cultural Studies (pp. 96–116). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Comas-Diaz, L., Griffith, E. E. H., Pinderhughes, E. B., & Wyche, K. F. (Eds.). (1995). Cultural Diversity and Mental Health, 1(1).Google ScholarPubMed
Diaz, C. (1995). Message from the GASW President. Program of the 15th Annual Training Conference of the Guam Association of Social Workers, Mangilao, Guam.Google Scholar
Diaz, V. M. (1994). Simply Chamorro: Telling tales of demise and survival in Guam. The Contemporary Pacific, 6, 29–58.Google Scholar
Hezel, F. X. (1987). Truk suicide epidemic and social change. Human Organization, 46, 283–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ho, D. Y. F. (1998). Indigenous psychologies: Asian perspectives. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29, 88–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, G. S. (1991). Culture tales: A narrative approach to thinking, cross-cultural psychology, and psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 46, 187–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleinman, A. (1988). Rethinking psychiatry: From cultural category to personal experience. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Lots, D. T. (1997). The best tracks on Guam: A guide to the hiking trails. Barrigada, Guam: Making Tracks.Google Scholar
Lutz, C. A. (1988). Unnatural emotions: Everyday sentiments on a Micronesian atoll and their challenge to Western theory. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, M. (1979). Weekend warriors: Alcohol in a Micronesian culture. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.Google Scholar
Mayo, L. W. (1992). The militarization of Guamanian society. In Robillard, A. B. (Ed.), Social change in the Pacific Islands (pp. 220–240). London: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
McMakin, P. D. (1978). The Suruhanos: Traditional curers on the island of Guam. Micronesica 14, 13–67.Google Scholar
Mishler, E. G. (1986). The analysis of interview-narratives. In Sarbin, T. R. (Ed.), Narrative psychology: The storied nature of human conduct (pp. 233–255). New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Ogan, E., & Kiste, R. C. (1987). The role of metropolitan cultures in shaping conduct and competence in the Pacific Islands. In Robillard, A. B. & Marsella, A. J. (Eds.), Contemporary issues in mental health research in the Pacific Islands (pp. 1–11). Honolulu, HI: Social Science Research Institute.Google Scholar
Ortner, S. B. (1996). Making gender: The politics and erotics of culture. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Pedersen, P. B., Draguns, J. G., Lonner, W. J., & Trimble, J. E. (Eds.). (1996). Counseling across cultures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Penningroth, P. E., & Penningroth, B. A. (1977). Cross-cultural mental health practice on Guam. Social Psychiatry, 12, 43–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pier, P. T. (1999). An exploratory study of community trauma and culturally responsive counseling with Chamorro clients. Dissertation Abstracts International, 59 (07), 3708B. (UMI No. 9841910)Google Scholar
Pobutsky, A. (1983). Suruhanus: Women herbalists of Guam. Unpublished manuscript, University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam.Google Scholar
Ponterotto, J. G., Casas, J. M., Suzuki, L. A., & Alexander, C. M. (Eds.). (1995). Handbook of multicultural counseling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Prilleltensky, I. (1989). Psychology and the status quo. American Psychologist, 44, 795–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prilleltensky, I. (1990). The politics of abnormal psychology: Past, present, and future. Political Psychology, 11, 767–785.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rappaport, J. (1995). Empowerment meets narrative: Listening to stories and creating settings. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 795–807.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reason, P. (1994). Three approaches to participative inquiry. In Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 324–339). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Reason, P., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (1996). Quality in human inquiry [Special issue]. Qualitative Inquiry, 2(1).Google Scholar
Robillard, A. B. (1987). Mental health services in Micronesia: A history. In Robillard, A. B. & Marsella, A. J. (Eds.), Contemporary issues in mental health research in the Pacific Islands (pp. 215–244). Honolulu, HI: Social Science Research Institute.Google Scholar
Rogers, R. F. (1995). Destiny's landfall: A history of Guam. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, D. H. (1995). Love and suffering: Adolescent socialization and suicide in Micronesia. The Contemporary Pacific, 7, 21–53.Google Scholar
San Nicolas, R. J. (1996). Collaborative social work practice with Chamorro families of the seriously mentally ill in Guam. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work, 6, 6–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarason, S. B. (1981). An asocial psychology and a misdirected clinical psychology. American Psychologist, 36, 827–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwab, G. J. (1996). Similarities and differences: Building blocks of a Marianas spirituality. Umanidat: A Journal of the Humanities, 4, 33–43.Google Scholar
Shohat, E. (1997). Post-Third-Worldist culture: Gender, nation, and the cinema. In Alexander, M. J. & Mohanty, C. T. (Eds.), Feminist genealogies, colonial legacies, democratic futures (pp. 183–209). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (1990). Counseling the culturally different: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Thompson, L. M. (1932). Archaeology of the Marianas Islands (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum Bulletin 100). Honolulu, HI: Bishop Museum Press. (Reprinted in 1971 by Kraus Reprint, New York.)Google Scholar
Twaddle, I. K. B. (1996). Clinical psychologists' endorsement of mental disorder ideology as a function of personal sociopolitical values (Doctoral dissertation, University of Windsor, 1994). Dissertation Abstracts International, 56(11), 6411B.Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. (2002). 2000 Census of population and housing: Guam. Retrieved January 9, 2003, from http://www.census.gov/census2000/guam.html Google Scholar
Van Peenen, M. W. (1993). Chamorro legends on the island of Guam (MARC Publications Series No.4). Mangilao, Guam: Micronesian Area Research Center.Google Scholar
Zea, M. C., & Echeverry, J. J. (1998). [Review of the book Counseling across cultures ]. Cultural Diversity and Mental Health, 4, 72–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar