We live in a multicultural society, yet how well do we understand the differences that exist across cultures and how they may impact on mental health and mental health assessment? Assessing Mental Health Across Cultures provides a framework for mental health professionals and students to obtain an in-depth understanding of a client whose cultural background is different to their own. The book uses a combination of theoretical discussion and case examples set in the context of Australia's multicultural society. Chapter titles include: Issues and Dilemmas in Diagnosis Across Cultures Cultural Values, the Sense of Self and Psychiatric Assessment Expression and Communication of Distress Across Cultures Issues in Translating Mental Health Terms Across Cultures Crosscultural Beliefs about Illness Negotiating Explanatory Models

Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) represent a very important factor of daily life for many individuals across different cultures and contexts. It is associated with lower rates of depression, suicide, mortality, and substance abuse, and is positively correlated with well-being and quality of life. Despite growing academic recognition and scientific literature on these connections this knowledge has not been translated into clinical practice. Part of the expanding Oxford Cultural Psychiatry series, Spirituality and Mental Health Across Cultures is a timely exploration of the implications of R/S on mental health. Written and edited by 38 experts in the fields of spirituality and mental health from 11 countries, covering a wide range of cultural and geographical perspectives, this unique resource assesses how mental health relates to world religions, agnosticism, atheism, and spiritualism unaffiliated with organised religion, with a practical touch. Across 25 chapters, this resource provides readers with a succinct and trustworthy review of the latest research and how this can be applied to clinical care. The first section covers the principles and fundamental questions that relate science, history, philosophy, neuroscience, religion, and spirituality with mental health. The second section discusses the main beliefs and practices related to world religions and their implications to mental health. The third reviews the impact of R/S on specific clinical situations and offers practical guidance on how to handle these appropriately, such as practical suggestions for assessing and integrating R/S in personal history anamnesis or psychotherapy.

This is the definitive textbook on global mental health, an emerging priority discipline within global health, which places priority on improving mental health and achieving equity in mental health for all people worldwide.

The publication of the Cultural Formulation Outline in the DSM-IV represented a significant event in the history of standard diagnostic systems. It was the first systematic attempt at placing cultural and contextual factors as an integral component of the diagnostic process. The year was 1994 and its coming was ripe since the multicultural explosion due to migration, refugees, and globalization on the ethnic composition of the U.S. population made it compelling to strive for culturally attuned psychiatric care. Understanding the limitations of a dry symptomatological approach in helping clinicians grasp the intricacies of the experience, presentation, and course of mental illness, the NIMH Group on Culture and Diagnosis proposed to appraise, in close collaboration with the patient, the cultural framework of the patient's identity, illness experience, contextual factors, and clinician-patient relationship, and to narrate this along the lines of five major domains. By articulating the patient's experience and the standard symptomatological description of a case, the clinician may be better able to arrive at a more useful understanding of the case for clinical care purposes. Furthermore, attending to the context of the illness and the person of the patient may additionally enhance understanding of the case and enrich the database from which effective treatment can be planned. This reader is a rich collection of chapters relevant to the DSM-IV Cultural Formulation that covers the Cultural Formulation's historical and conceptual background, development, and characteristics. In addition, the reader discusses the prospects of the Cultural Formulation and provides clinical case illustrations of its utility in diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Book jacket.

This book provides a selection of contemporary research on the development and examination of psychometric measures for the assessment of mental health, religion and culture. This book was originally published as two special issues of Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

Every health professional interacts with patients from different cultures to their own, not just those from different countries, ethnic or religious groups, but also those with cultural differences due to sexual orientation, lifestyle, beliefs, age, gender, social status or perceived economic worth. The potential for confusions in communication and consequent problems are even greater in primary care mental health than in other areas.This guide for all health professionals provides a model for working in mental health across cultures, and outlines practical ways of using psychotherapy skills across cultures. It can be used as personal preparation by individuals in any primary care setting at home or abroad, or as a teaching tool for use with health professionals travelling to another culture, including overseas aid workers and those moving to a new country. It is also of great value to everyone interested in transcultural medicine. 'Wherever we work, whoever we are, we are working across cultures, often without realising it. The first step is to become conscious of this fact. The next step is to read this book' - Jill Benson and Jill Thistlethwaite.