Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Tibetan Buddhist Deconstruction

As globalization facilitates all manner of material, intellectual and cultural exchange, the ways in which people understand, assess and attend to mental and physical health are no longer determined by immediate cultural influences alone. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an illness construct which epitomizes the immense complexity of the ¡®internationalization¡¯ of culturally-specific illness categories. The Tibetan refugee population, among whom significant PTSD research has been conducted, serves as a case in point. As knowledge of the oppressive policies and violent suppression of basic rights and freedoms in Tibet grows, research among Tibetan exiles is marked by an increased focus on stress and the residual impacts of imprisonment, torture and flight. The limitations evident in many such PTSD studies relate to inadequate understanding of participants, administration of inappropriate and inadequate measures, and uncritical assumptions as to the universal applicability of ¡®Western¡¯-based medical and diagnostic categories. In arguing against the utility of PTSD among Tibetan refugee populations, this paper outlines seven problematic areas related to the illness category and diagnostic criteria of PTSD, using data from published studies to argue in favor of abandoning notions of objective science and universal, ahistorical approaches when it comes to human health and well-being.