Cross-Cultural Psychiatry and Validity in DSM-5

The latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-5, explicitly addresses the possibility of cultural variation in mental illness. Among other things, it contains a ‘Glossary of Cultural Concepts of Distress’, which describes nine common conditions, including khyal cap, or ‘wind attacks’, a syndrome found among Cambodians in the United States and Cambodia. The chapter examines three possible models of the relation between such cultural idioms and the ambition, for DSM-5, of being a valid taxonomy of universal forms of mental illness. The models are (1) an underlying universal ‘pathogenic’ component overlain by a variable ‘pathoplastic’ cultural shape, (2) a pathogenic-only model, and (3) a pathoplastic-only model. None, however, reconciles the DSM’s simultaneous ambitions of validity and cultural sensitivity and suggest that the ‘Glossary of Cultural Concepts of Distress’ remains an afterthought in tension with the rest of the taxonomy

Themes in cultural psychiatry, an annotated bibliography, 1975-1980

Includes bibliographical references and index.While expanding on the previous compilation, Anthropological and Cross-Cultural Themes in Mental Health: An Annotated Bibliography, 1925-1974, Favazza anthologizes the next five years of literature on cultural psychiatry. The magnitude of material during this time period allowed Favazza to broaden the scope from cultural psychiatric themes in psychiatric and psychological journals to also include anthropological journals, non-English-language journals, and books as well.Introduction -- Journals cited in annotations -- Annotations -- Secondary author index -- Subject index.Digitized at the University of Missouri--Columbia MU Libraries Digitization Lab in 2012. Digitized at 600 dpi with Zeutschel, OS 15000 scanner. Access copy, available in MOspace, is 400 dpi, grayscale

Symbolic interaction and an interpretive approach to cross cultural psychiatry

Adoption of the medical model of psychopathology has de-emphasized the need for psychiatry to incorporate new developments from the other social sciences. The need for an interpretive (rather than merely biological) approach to psychopathology based upon theories of symbolic interaction is argued in the present article with respect to the emerging field of cross-cultural psychiatry. Groundwork for such an approach is sketched out by application of Obeyesekere\u27s (1981) anthropological theory of personal symbols

At the crossroads of anthropology and epidemiology: Current research in cultural psychiatry in the UK

Cultural psychiatry research in the UK comprises a broad range of diverse methodologies, academic disciplines, and subject areas. Methodologies range from epidemiological to anthropological/ethnographic to health services research; mixed methods research is becoming increasingly popular, as are public health and health promotional topics. After briefly outlining the history of cultural psychiatry in the UK we will discuss contemporary research. Prominent themes include: the epidemiology of schizophrenia among Africans/Afro-Caribbeans, migration and mental health, racism and mental health, cultural identity, pathways to care, explanatory models of mental illness, cultural competence, and the subjective experiences of healthcare provision among specific ethnic groups such as Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. Another strand of research that is attracting increasing academic attention focuses upon the relationship between religion, spirituality, and mental health, in particular, the phenomenology of religious experience and its mental health ramifications, as well as recent work examining the complex links between theology and psychiatry. The paper ends by appraising the contributions of British cultural psychiatrists to the discipline of cultural psychiatry and suggesting promising areas for future research

) 769-791 ! The Author(s)

Abstract Cultural psychiatry research in the UK comprises a broad range of diverse methodologies, academic disciplines, and subject areas. Methodologies range from epidemiological to anthropological/ethnographic to health services research; mixed methods research is becoming increasingly popular, as are public health and health promotional topics. After briefly outlining the history of cultural psychiatry in the UK we will discuss contemporary research. Prominent themes include: the epidemiology of schizophrenia among Africans/Afro-Caribbeans, migration and mental health, racism and mental health, cultural identity, pathways to care, explanatory models of mental illness, cultural competence, and the subjective experiences of healthcare provision among specific ethnic groups such as Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. Another strand of research that is attracting increasing academic attention focuses upon the relationship between religion, spirituality, and mental health, in particular, the phenomenology of religious experience and its mental health ramifications, as well as recent work examining the complex links between theology and psychiatry. The paper ends by appraising the contributions of British cultural psychiatrists to the discipline of cultural psychiatry and suggesting promising areas for future research

The assessment of traumatized refugees : clinical practices at the Cultural Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic

Peer reviewe