Transcultural Psychiatry

In the 1980s, transcultural psychiatry was a developing field which was commanding increasing attention for three major reasons. First, many societies were becoming more and more multicultural, and therefore professional health workers needed to be aware of the needs and background of ethnic groups, as well as to be familiar with their own cultural assumptions. Secondly, the study of psychiatric illness across cultures can illuminate features of such an illness in our own society. Thirdly, the way in which racism may initiate or sustain psychiatric disorder had become a topic essential to a present-day understanding of transcultural psychiatry. Originally published in 1986, this book provides a review of many such aspects of transcultural psychiatry. It is written at a level suitable for mental health professionals, including trainee psychiatrists, but would also interest students and other qualified staff, including psychologists, nurses, social workers and other professional workers concerned with race relations and the provision of psychiatric services for ethnic groups.

List of Contributors. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction John L. Cox 2. The Historical Development of Transcultural Psychiatry H.B.M. Murphy 3. The Epidemiology of Mental Illness Across Cultures Julian Leff 4. Russian Dolls and Chinese Boxes: An Anthropological Approach to the Implicit Models of Comparative Psychiatry Roland Littlewood 5. Migration and Mental Illness Philip H. Rack 6. Overseas Students and Expatriates: Sojourners or Settlers? John L. Cox 7. Psychiatric Services for Ethnic Minority Groups John Bavington and Abdul Majid 8. Depression in Ethnic Minorites Suman Fernando 9. Racism, Prejudice and Mental Illness Aggrey W. Burke 10. Ideology and Politics in Transcultural Psychiatry S.P. Sashidharan 11. The Mental Health Impact of British Cultural Traditions H.B.M. Murphy 12. Transcultural Social Work John Triseliotis 13. Culture and Psychiatric Nursing: Implications for Training Bryn D. Davis 14. Family Therapy Across Cultures Annie Lau 15. The ‘Culture-bound Syndromes’ of the Dominant Culture: Culture, Psychopathology and Biomedicine Roland Littlewood and Maurice Lipsedge 16. Chinese Psychiatry: Development and Characteristics Wen-Shing Tseng 17. Indian and Western Psychiatry: A Comparison A. Venkoba Rao 18. African and Western Psychiatry: A Comparison T. Asuni. Index.

John L. Cox