Overview
As society becomes more diverse and the world evolves into a global village, the need to integrate culture into medicine and psychiatry has become increasingly critical—challenging clinicians to provide the most effective psychiatric care to patients of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
The author of this groundbreaking guide presents an overview of culture in psychiatry using fascinating case studies to propose that ethnicity be used as a central organizing principle to integrate cultural factors in psychiatric care. This book summarizes the specific cultural contribution in each section of the diagnostic categories of DSM-IV and clarifies today's hot issues on how to define and classify culture-bound syndromes. It highlights the technique of elucidating cultural information during a routine psychiatric interview and details cross-cultural psychopharmacology. It also focuses on the sociocultural factors that affect psychopharmacology and the issue of nonadherence and explores the cultural context of psychotherapy.
Designed to fit into a lab-coat or jacket pocket, these convenient guides complement the more detailed information found in lengthier psychiatric texts. Packed with practical information and enhanced with illustrations, references, and a glossary, this Concise Guide will appeal to psychiatrists, psychiatric residents, and medical students working in treatment settings such as inpatient psychiatry units, outpatient clinics, consultation--liaison services, and private offices.
Editorials
Reviewer: Nicholas Greco IV, MS, BCETS, CATSM(Abbott Laboratories)
Description: This book successfully addresses the need for cultural awareness in psychiatry and is an ideal primer for both students and practitioners in the mental health field.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide an easy-to-read, practical introduction to address the cultural issues prevalent in psychiatric care. The information is thought-provoking and relevant and sheds light on a subject that is often overlooked. The author's objectives are timely, worthwhile, and unquestionably met.
Audience: Intended for students and practitioners of mental health, this book will undoubtedly serve the needs of all practicing clinicians and mental health trainees. The author is knowledgeable and credible.
Features: This book provides a solid definition of culture and explores culture in the DSM-IV with an emphasis on cultural considerations, psychopharmacological non-compliance, and psychotherapeutic contexts through a series of models. The author's focus on culture issues regarding psychopharmacology and psychotherapy are a must read. The glossary of Cultural Bound Syndromes in the appendix and discussed in Chapter 4 are also a must read. The tables, figures, and appendix illustrate the information quickly and easily.
Assessment: The author provides the mental health field with a book that is readily able to address the ever-present, ever-changing need for cultural sensitivity and awareness. As the mental health field continues to change and grow, the need for a concise reference to cultural issues in psychiatric care must follow alongside. This latest publication contributes to the field a concise information source for cultural issues and will be a wonderful teaching tool. This book is unquestionably recommended.
4 Stars! from Doody