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Sleep disorders in Chinese culture: Experiences from a study of insomnia in Taiwan
Author(s) -
LEE YUEJOE
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1995.tb01870.x
Subject(s) - insomnia , sleep (system call) , psychology , psychiatry , medicine , clinical psychology , computer science , operating system
Traditional Chinese culture‐constituted health beliefs continue to influence the Taiwanese people after more than one hundred years of contact with Western medicine. Medicine for sleep disorders, as well as psychiatric medicine, meets some specific difficulties in the professional development. A study of insomnia in Taiwan showed that patients might seek help from a traditional physician and visit a modern hospital at the same stage of medication. General internists and neurologists help to differentiate organic conditions underlying sleep problems but may generalize insomnia to a psychogenic illness. The culture‐conditioned attribution of insomnia could also exert certain effects upon pharmacotherapeutic response.