DSM-5® Handbook of the Cultural Formulation Interview provides the background, context, and detailed guidance necessary to train clinicians in the use of the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI), which was created as part of the 2007-2013 DSM revision process. The purpose of the CFI -- and this unique handbook -- is to make it easier for providers to account for the influence of culture in their clinical work to enhance patient-clinician communication and improve outcomes. Cultural psychiatry as a field has evolved enormously from the days when it was principally concerned with epidemiological and clinical studies of disease prevalence; it now examines a multitude of issues, primary among them the differing patient, family, and practitioner models of illness and treatment experiences within and across cultures. The editors, all of whom have been intimately involved in the evolution of the field, have designed the book and accompanying videos for maximum instructional and clinical utility. The Handbook boasts many strengths and useful features, including: A detailed description of each of the three CFI components: a core 16-item questionnaire, which can be applied in any clinical setting with any patient by any mental health clinician; an informant version of the core CFI used to obtain information from caregivers; and 12 supplementary modules that expand on these basic assessments. This material facilitates implementation of the CFI by clinicians. Over a dozen clinical vignettes are included to illustrate use of the three components, and the Handbook also includes multiple videos that demonstrate the application of portions of the core CFI, and several supplementary modules. Strategies for incorporating the CFI into clinical training are identified and discussed, furthering the objective of developing culturally-sensitive and astute practitioners. The theoretical bases of the CFI are explored, raising questions for discussion and identifying areas for further research. The CFI is a valuable tool for all patients, not just those judged to be culturally different. The CFI has been called the single most practically useful contribution of cultural psychiatry and medical anthropology to clinical psychiatry, primary care, and medicine in general. DSM-5® Handbook on the Cultural Formulation Interview is the only book on the market that equips readers with the skills and insight to incorporate the CFI into practice, making it a critically important addition to the clinical literature.

Clinicians will, of course, find the DSM-5® Handbook of the Cultural Formulation Interview indispensable, but administrators, policy makers, advocates, and other practitioners who work collaboratively to engage patients in the mental health care process will also value its clarity and comprehensiveness.

The interaction of culture and mental illness is the focus of the Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry, which is designed to help mental health clinicians become culturally competent and skilled in the treatment of patients from diverse backgrounds. The product of nearly two decades of seminar experience, the book teaches clinicians when it is appropriate to ask "Is what I am seeing in this patient typical behavior in his or her culture?" The ability to see someone else's worldview is essential for working with ethnic minority and culturally diverse patients, and the author, who designed the course that was this handbook's precursor, has expanded the second edition to take into account shifting demographics and the changing culture of mental health treatment. The content of the new edition has been completely updated, expanded to include new material, and enhanced by innovative features that will prove helpful for mental health clinicians as they encounter diverse patient populations. The new chapter on women reflects the fact that mental health disparities extend beyond ethnic minorities. Women have significantly higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder and affective disorders, for example, yet research on women has been limited largely to the relationship between reproductive functioning and mental health. Two new chapters address the alarming number of unmet mental health needs that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients suffer from. These chapters emphasize the need for mental health providers and policy makers to remedy these disparities. A new chapter has been added to help clinicians determine the role religious and spiritual beliefs play in psychological functioning, because religious and spiritual beliefs have been found to have both positive and negative effects on mental health. The newly introduced DSM-5® Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) is addressed in the book's introduction and is included in its entirety, along with an informant module, 12 supplementary modules, and guidelines for their use in a psychiatric assessment. In addition, the reader has access to videotaped examples using simulated patients to illustrate practical application of the DSM-5® Outline for Cultural Formulation and CFI. Extensive information on ethnopsychopharmacology, reviewing clinical reports of ethnic variation with several different classes of psychotropic medications and examining the relationship of pharmacogenetics, ethnicity, and environmental factors to pharmacologic treatment of minorities. The book updates coverage of African American, Asian American, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American/Alaskan Native cultures as they relate to mental health issues while retaining the nuanced approach that was so effective in the first edition. Course-tested and DSM-5® compatible throughout, the Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry is a must-read for clinicians in our diverse era.

This chapter describes basic principles and processes in the clinical mental health interview of a person from any cultural group. Because of the author’s own background and the characteristics of his clinical work, the emphasis of the chapter is on the Hispanic/Latino group, specifically Mexican Americans. The principles outlined can apply to many types of interviews: diagnostic, psychotherapeutic, emergency, and so on. The approach can best be described as dynamic but also available to gathering information for formal DSM diagnoses and formulations. Nuances of the cross-cultural dynamic process in the areas of language, intrapersonal attitudes/feelings, communication patterns, and other areas are covered. Specific psychotherapy techniques and explicit details about diagnostic formulation are beyond the scope of this chapter and are not examined.

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.

DSM-5® Self-Exam Questions: Test Questions for the Diagnostic Criteria elucidates DSM-5® through self-exam questions designed to test the reader's knowledge of the new edition's diagnostic criteria. Mental health professionals, ranging from clinicians and students to psychiatric nurses and social workers, will benefit from this substantive text's 300-plus questions. This book is a "must have" for anyone seeking to fully understand the changes brought about by the groundbreaking launch of DSM-5®. Some of the book's most beneficial features include: Self-exam questions and cases designed to test the reader's knowledge of conceptual changes to DSM-5® (e.g., autism spectrum disorder), specific changes to diagnoses (e.g., the integration of childhood disorders within main disorders), and diagnostic criteria (e.g., the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder and bipolar disorders). Questions about each diagnosis in DSM-5®, including the proposed diagnoses in Section III, which enable readers to teach themselves about new and potential future diagnoses. A contrast of DSM-5® diagnoses with DSM-IV-TR® to assist readers in quickly learning about the changes in diagnostic classes and criteria. Short answers that explain the rationale for each correct answer (diagnostic criteria sets from DSM-5® are included as appropriate, and readers are directed to DSM-5® for further information). Question answers containing important information on diagnostic classifications, criteria sets, diagnoses, codes, and severity, dimension of diagnosis, and culture, age, and gender. Straightforward, practical, and illustrative, DSM-5® Self-Exam Questions: Test Questions for the Diagnostic Criteria will successfully test and broaden the DSM-5® knowledge of all mental health professionals.