Vulnerable Transitions in a World of Kin

Abstract

The polyvocal meanings of a newly married young woman’s psychotic illness are the subject of this chapter. The perspectives of the young woman, her husband, husband’s family, her parents, and the hospital staff compete as all try to arrive at a decision about how to respond to her distress. In many ways, Priyanka’s story is a familiar one of a young Indian woman making a difficult adjustment to hardship, subordination, and disappointment in her new marital home. Yet the line between reasonable suspicion and delusional paranoia during this difficult transition can be very thin, as evidenced by the family members’ narratives of the early weeks of Priyanka’s marriage. The chapter illustrates the role of kin in the life of someone with schizophrenia, and the stressful marriage transition that may make her more vulnerable to falling ill.