The Social Cultural Factor Study Of Phobic Anxiety Disorder And Its Medical Consultation Behavior In Taiwan

To professional medical practitioners, ways to explain sickness rely on medical reasoning. However, patients have their own logical ways to explain cause of sickness;their thoughts are affected by social cultural variance resulted in different medical consultation behavior. Phobic Anxiety Disorder (PAD) is a syndrome with close relationship with social cultural factor. Social cultural factor on medical consultation behavior research helps reveal what PAD patients' cultural implication;and helps disclose PAD social culture in Taiwan. Consequently, it helps promote the knowledge of psychological science and the localization progress of psychological counseling.This research explains and analyzes medical system and general public medical consultation behavior in Taiwan by literature reviewing. It also compares various viewpoints of Traditional Chinese medicine, Western medicine and Folk medicine on PAD study. It adopts field study method interviewing 20 PAD patients, and then analyzing its findings.Taiwan medical culture has gone through three historical periods: Chinese immigration at the end of Ming Dynasty and Ching government, Japanese ruling as well as Kuomin Party ruling. The medical culture has changed from previous independent co-existence of sorcery and tribal doctor to current existence of Traditional Chinese medicine, Western medicine and Folk medicine. As a result, Taiwan people have developed multiple ways in medical treatment. It is especially common phenomenon on PAD patients.Chinese, Western and Folk medicines have different views on the study of PAD. Chinese doctor explains it being a series of attitude and behavior change over psychological dysfunction. Western psychiatrist believes it is sort of anxiety due to stress, calls it Anxiety Disorder that can be classified asPanic Disorder, Phobic Disorder, Obsessive-compulsive Disorder and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Tribal doctor thinks it is sort of "soul away from body" resulted from various reasons, and believes it can be treated by kind of "Soul retrieval" method."Soul retrieval" is a treatment through a certain sort of ceremony which helps retrieve the "soul away from body" , so as to rectify the messy and complicated mental and physical conditions. "Soul retrieval" is Taiwan culture, but a non-mainstream one. It has close linkage with Taiwan local religious culture, that is ghost and god culture - a mixture of Taiwan people towards own experience and feeling that has influence over their psychological thinking and behavior. We may understand tribal thoughts via the culture of "soul retrieval" , because it is full of cultural implication.To understand PAD sufferers' overall inner world of experience, problems they encounter, how they tackle the problems etc, this research adopts participation and interviewing methods on 20 PAD sufferers by field study method. We discover that PAD sufferers were influenced not only by traditional culture, but also by other practical factors such as economics, human dignity, interpersonal relations and psychological stress. Apart from that, "fear" is interacted with various factors: cognitive and human response;mental and physical conditions versus health;mass media, 'fate' and 'fungshui' culture;ancestors' culture and ghost/god culture.This research on Phobic Anxiety Disorder (PAD) sufferers helps understand the social culture on ways they seek medical treatment;and explore the Taiwan social culture on PAD. Finally it concludes that during the treatment process of PAD sufferers, a remarkable result can be obtained if treatment is supplemented by psychological counseling. The aim of this research is to promote localization of psychological science and psychological counseling in Taiwan.