Culture can be conceived of as a complex construct of socially transmitted ideas, feelings and attitudes that shape behaviour, organise perceptions and label experiences. Culture affects various aspects of mental health — the conception of personal identity, communication styles, gender and family roles and beliefs and rituals. It also influences mental illness in many ways — assessment and diagnosis, illness behaviour and help-seeking, the expectations of patients and health professionals and the acceptance of appropriate therapies. Concepts of illness vary between cultures and people from different cultures express their symptoms differently. What may be abnormal and psychopathological in one culture may be culturally acceptable in another. Thus, an understanding of the patient's culture is important in assessing the clinical significance of specific symptoms and behaviours and in the treatment of mental disorders.
Cultural psychiatry is a field within psychiatry which examines issues related to culture, mental health and illness. The past few decades have seen an increased emphasis on the role of culture and ethnicity and this has resulted in an explosion of journal articles and books on the subject. This handbook provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the many issues involved. It contains chapters that include the role of culture in human behaviour, mental health, psychopathology and psychological therapies. It also covers clinical practice and therapy with specific population groups. It reviews cross-cultural theory, research and training, examining issues related to many diverse cultures.
Each chapter has many subsections and subheadings, which make assimilation easy. For example, the chapter on stress and coping patterns discusses the dynamic nature of stress, its measurement, its effect on mental disorders, cultural contributions to stress and problems, culturally inherent vulnerability and the role of culture in coping patterns. Similarly, the section on culture and psychopathology has separate chapters on the many categories of mental disorder and presentation. There is an appropriate degree of overlap between chapters, but cross-referencing is done by chapter and section rather than page number, which is a bit frustrating. The appendix has a useful list of books on the subject.
The author has tried to appeal to a wide audience, including psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists. The wide potential readership does make the content uneven, with some parts being considered detailed or brief depending on one's background. A weakness is the limited references to British and European work on the subject, with increased emphasis on North American and Micronesian perspectives.
Overall, the book presents a comprehensive review of the subject. It is highly recommended to anyone seeking to broaden their knowledge of culture, mental health and illness.
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