Course Overview for Psy 328 Culture and Mental Health in Argentina

Argentina has a long tradition of viewing psychology, counseling, psychotherapy, and psychoeducation in a postive light. Argentines tend to be psycholgical thinkers, and they understand the language feeling and emotion (as expressed in their national dance, the tango, above). It will be interesting to examine how this worldview impacts how they deal with each other, and how they support mental health in both popular and professional settings.

What constitutes “mental health,” “healing,” “personality,” and even “self” gain their meaning from the cultural context in which they are defined. Studying these concepts while in another culture reveals the necessity of including culture as background for many psychological phenomena. We will survey a set of topics that emphasizes recognition of psychological principles and research findings to facilitate positive mental health. As part of this set of topics we will touch upon abnormal psychology and aspects of psychological treatment as well. Topics may include: theories of personality, definitions of normality vs abnormality, interpersonal communication, psychological treatment, sex and gender relations, stress and coping, among others. A major emphasis will be the impact of culture and cultural traditions on modern behavior and practices. I hope, also, to tap into indigenous healing traditions native to Argentina.