Social Psychiatry across Cultures

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

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2. Introduction: Culture, Stratification, and Social Psychiatry

   1. Introduction

      • Rumi Kato Price, Brent Mack Shea, Keith S. Murray, David J. Hilditch

      Pages 1-16

3. Studies across Cultures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-24

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   2. Mentally Disturbed Patients in Nigeria

      • A. I. Odebiyi, R. O. Ogedengbe

      Pages 25-38

   3. Alcoholism in the Czech and Slovak Republics in the Last 30 Years

      • Martin Bútora

      Pages 39-50

   4. Psychoemotional Responses to the Existing Social Systems in Tribal Populations in India

      • Harsha N. Mookherjee, Samita Manna

      Pages 51-59

   5. The Amish Life-Style in an Era of Rapid Social Change

      • Jerry Savells

      Pages 61-72

   6. Reciprocity in Support Networks of Sheltered-Care Residents

      • Steven P. Segal, Jane Holschuh

      Pages 73-86

4. Stratification Studies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-92

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   2. Ethnicity, Social Status, and Psychiatric Disorder in the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Survey

      • Charles E. Holzer III, Jeffrey W. Swanson, Brent Mack Shea

      Pages 93-104

   3. Sex Differences in the Relationship between Social Support and Mental Health

      • Peter C. Meyer

      Pages 105-117

   4. Urban/Rural Differences in the Structure and Consequences of Social Support

      • Suzanne T. Ortega, David R. Johnson

      Pages 119-133

5. Specificity and Universality

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 135-141

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   2. Afro-Surinamese Ethnopsychiatry

      • Charles J. Wooding

      Pages 143-160

   3. Family Composition, Birth Order, and Gender of Mexican Children in Psychological Treatment

      • Harry W. Martin, Maria Eugenia Rangel, Sue Keir Hoppe, Robert L. Leon

      Pages 161-168

   4. Protective Factors for Drug Abuse

      • Rumi Kato Price, Kiyoshi Wada, Keith S. Murray

      Pages 169-192

6. Conclusion: Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Social Psychiatry

   1. Conclusion

      • Rumi Kato Price, Keith S. Murray, David J. Hilditch

      Pages 193-210

7. Back Matter

   Pages 211-226

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The World Health Organization's concept of health as "the condition of psychophysical and social well-being" must be translated into opera­ tional terms. The objective is to place the human person within the social system, given that mental health, mental illness, and suffering are individual, despite the fact that their causes are to be sought in the society and environment that surround and interact with the indi­ vidual. One dimension that must be emphasized in this field is the contin­ uum that exists between social environment and cerebral development. This continuum consists of the physical and biological features of the two interacting systems: on one hand, the brain managed and con­ trolled by the genetic program, and, on the other hand, the environ­ ment, be it natural or social. A simple dichotomy of individual and environment is no longer a sufficient concept in understanding the etiology of mental health and illness. Needless to say, socioepidemiological research in psychiatry and transcultural psychiatry is useful in reaching these ends. However, at the root of mental illness, one can always find the same causal elements: informational chaos, inadequate dietary intake, substance abuse, trauma, conditioning, and so on, which make the interactive systems dysfunctional. Subsequent organic and psychotic disorders occur to the detriment of both the individual and society. Current biological psychiatry is inadequately equipped in treating mental illness.

• Gender
• Sex
• emotion
• environment
• psychiatric disorder
• psychiatry
• rehabilitation
• social change

• Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA

  Rumi Kato Price

• Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, USA

  Brent Mack Shea

• Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, USA

  Harsha N. Mookherjee

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