In the period between about 1820 and about 1870 German psychiatry was born and reborn: fust as anthropologically orientated psychiatry and then as biomedical psychiatry. There has, to date, been virtually no systematic examination of the philosophical motives which determined these two conceptions of psychiatry. The aim of our study is to make up for this omission to the best of our ability. The work is aimed at a very diverse readership: in the first place historians of science (psychiatry, medicine, psychology, physiology) and psychiatrists (psychologists, physicians) with an interest in the philosophical and historical aspects of their discipline, and in the second place philosophers working in the fields of the history of philosophy, philosophy of science, philosophical anthropology and philosophy of medicine. The structure and content of our study have been determined by an attempt to balance two different approaches to the historical material. One approach emphasises the philosophical literature and looks at the question of the way in which official philosophy determined the self-conception (Selbstverstiindnis) of the science of the day (Chapters 2 and 4). The other stresses the scientific literature and is concerned with throwing light on its philosophical implications (Chapters 1 and 3).

From the Preface, by Arthur Kleinman:Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture presents a theoretical framework for studying the relationship between medicine, psychiatry, and culture. That framework is principally illustrated by materials gathered in field research in Taiwan and, to a lesser extent, from materials gathered in similar research in Boston. The reader will find this book contains a dialectical tension between two reciprocally related orientations: it is both a cross-cultural (largely anthropological) perspective on the essential components of clinical care and a clinical perspective on anthropological studies of medicine and psychiatry. That dialectic is embodied in my own academic training and professional life, so that this book is a personal statement. I am a psychiatrist trained in anthropology. I have worked in library, field, and clinic on problems concerning medicine and psychiatry in Chinese culture. I teach cross-cultural psychiatry and medical anthropology, but I also practice and teach consultation psychiatry and take a clinical approach to my major cross-cultural teaching and research involvements. The theoretical framework elaborated in this book has been applied to all of those areas; in turn, they are used to illustrate the theory. Both the theory and its application embody the same dialectic. The purpose of this book is to advance both poles of that dialectic: to demonstrate the critical role of social science (especially anthropology and cross-cultural studies) in clinical medicine and psychiatry and to encourage study of clinical problems by anthropologists and other investigators involved in cross-cultural research.

While there is increasing political interest in research and policy-making for global mental health, there remain major gaps in the education of students in health fields for understanding the complexities of diverse mental health conditions. Drawing on the experience of many well-known experts in this area, this book uses engaging narratives to illustrate that mental illnesses are not only problems experienced by individuals but must also be understood and treated at the social and cultural levels. The book -includes discussion of traditional versus biomedical beliefs about mental illness, the role of culture in mental illness, intersections between religion and mental health, intersections of mind and body, and access to health care; -is ideal for courses on global mental health in psychology, public health, and anthropology departments and other health-related programs.

`There are many insights and nuggets of value in this collection. Maurice Lipsedge reminds us how badly psychiatry needs anthropology's insights.This book should contribute to the ongoing dialogue between the two fields.' - The Journal of the Royal Antropological Institute `The editors states in the introduction that they wish to encourage the reader `to meet halfway the other discipline'. This expresses the view which all the contributors clearly feel and which is correct, that psychology and psychiatry and anthropology have much to offer each other and indeed are similar in several respects'. - The International Journal of Social Psychiatry `As an introductory text the book is perhaps too difficult, but for students of medical anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry it offers a useful up to date assessment of the field.' - The International Journal of Social Psychiatry 'This text brings together some noted clinicians and researchers in psychiatry and mental health. The aim is to explore what we can learn from anthropology to achieve a contextual understanding of mental illness and health in contemporary society. The book contains a wide selection of ideas, and works well to bridge the gap between anthropolgy and psychiatry. This book is definitely not for the novice or anyone new to the field. It is, however, worth reading to explore ways in which mental health practitioners can make the shift from ideologies, theories and practices that are only interested in establishing the presence or absence of pathology or illness, towards theory and practice that take account of the meaning of those experiences for people in their everyday lives. One of the authors sums this up well by suggesting that "anthropologically informed methods of enquiry have potential to help establish clearer links between personal suffering and local politico-economic ideologies".` - Openmind. No110, July/Aug 2001 The relevance of transcultural issues for medical practice, including psychiatry, is becoming more widely recognized and medical anthropology is now a major sub-discipline. Written for those working in the mental health services as well as for anthropologists, Anthropological Approaches to Psychological Medicine brings together psychiatry and anthropology and focuses on the implications of their interaction in theory and clinical practice. The book reaffirms the importance of anthropology for fully understanding psychiatric practice and psychological disorders in both socio-historical and individual contexts. The development and use of diagnostic categories, the nature of expressed emotion within cross-cultural contexts and the religious context of perceptions of pathological behaviour are all refracted through an anthropological perspective. The clinical applications of medical anthropology addressed include, in particular, the establishing of cultural competence and an examination of the new perspectives anthropological study can bring to psychosis and depression. The stigmatization of mental illness is also reviewed from an anthropological perspective. Encouraging practitioners to reflect on the position of medicine in a wider cultural context, this is an exciting and comprehensive text which explores the profound importance of an anthropological interpretation for key issues in psychological medicine.

After putting down this weighty (in all senses of the word) collection, the reader, be she or he physician or social scientist, will (or at least should) feel uncomfortable about her or his taken-for-granted commonsense (therefore cultural) understanding of medicine. The editors and their collaborators show the medical leviathan, warts and all, for what it is: changing, pluralistic, problematic, powerful, provocative. What medicine proclaims itself to be - unified, scientific, biological and not social, non-judgmental - it is shown not to resemble very much. Those matters about which medicine keeps fairly silent, it turns out, come closer to being central to its clinical practice - managing errors and learning to conduct a shared moral dis course about mistakes, handling issues of competence and competition among biomedical practitioners, practicing in value-laden contexts on problems for which social science is a more relevant knowledge base than biological science, integrating folk and scientific models of illness in clinical communication, among a large number of highly pertinent ethnographic insights that illuminate medicine in the chapters that follow.

The editors of the third edition of the seminal textbook Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology bring it completely up to date for both instructors and students. The collection of 49 readings (17 of them new to this edition) offers extensive background description and exposes students to the breadth of theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives and issues in the field of medical anthropology. The text provides specific examples and case studies of research as it is applied to a range of health settings: from cross-cultural clinical encounters to cultural analysis of new biomedical technologies and the implementation of programs in global health settings. The new edition features: • a major revision that eliminates many older readings in favor of more fresh, relevant selections; • a new section on structural violence that looks at the impact of poverty and other forms of social marginalization on health; • an updated and expanded section on “Conceptual Tools,” including new research and ideas that are currently driving the field of medical anthropology forward (such as epigenetics and syndemics); • new chapters on climate change, Ebola, PTSD among Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, eating disorders, and autism, among others; • recent articles from Margaret Mead Award winners Sera Young, Seth Holmes, and Erin Finley, along with new articles by such established medical anthropologists as Paul Farmer and Merrill Singer.