Culture, Ethnicity, and Mental Illness

Front Cover
American Psychiatric Press, 1993 - 640 pages

In recent years there has been a greater recognition of how cultural concepts, values, and beliefs influence the way mental symptoms are expressed, how individuals and their families respond to mental distresses and to psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, and how mental health care is delivered community-wide.

This comprehensive, clinically oriented volume examines the expression and treatment of mental illness in the context of culture. Written by 35 international experts in the field, Culture, Ethnicity, and Mental Illness covers the areas of the clinical encounter in which culture plays a prominent role, including psychiatric epidemiology, psychotherapy, culture-bound syndromes, and psychiatric assessment.

Culture, Ethnicity, and Mental Illness provides a cultural framework in the psychiatric care of a variety of groups in the United States, including African Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Hispanics, women, elderly people, and gay men and lesbians. There is also a chapter dealing with the impact of AIDS among minorities. Eight glossaries of ethnic terms, including foreign language characters, are included.

About the author (1993)

Albert C. Gaw, M.D., is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco, California. Dr. Gaw also serves as the Medical Director for Long Term Care at the Community Mental Health Services of the Department of Public Health for the City and County of San Francisco. He further works as the Medical Director of the San Francisco Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility of San Francisco General Hospital for the Community Health Network of San Francisco of the Department of Public Health for the City and County of San Francisco.

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