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Psychotropic Drugs and Concepts of Compliance in a Rural Mental Health Clinic
Author(s) -
Kaljee Linda M.,
Beardsley Robert
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
medical anthropology quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.855
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1548-1387
pISSN - 0745-5194
DOI - 10.1525/maq.1992.6.3.02a00060
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , compliance (psychology) , mental health , medicine , psychiatry , social environment , psychology , family medicine , social psychology , sociology , paleontology , social science , biology
The medically defined concept of “compliance” indicates a unidimensional interest: whether patients use physician prescribed treatments for a disease as diagnosed by a physician. This article presents findings from a pilot research project conducted at a rural mental health clinic in the Mid‐Atlantic region of the United States. The research was aimed at understanding chronically mentally inpatients' knowledge and uses of prescribed psychotropic drugs. Patients' experiences with and meanings assigned to their illnesses and biomedical treatments are presented in the context of their perceptions of control over their treatments and over their social and economic life and within the context of their health‐seeking processes and health goals.