[Ethnopsychiatry in the elderly].

Ethnopsychiatry is defined as an approach aimed to understand the ethnic and cultural dimensions of mental illnesses. The triple interest of cross-cultural approach in psychiatry in the elderly is highlighted by a review of the literature and five clinical vignettes. The first interest is to help the diagnosis of mental disorders in aged immigrants. The second is to take into account the ethnopsychogeriatric specificities by the sanitary and social systems. The third involves some aspects of psychiatry in the elderly in Sub-Saharan Africa. With aging, the immigrant has to reinvent, successfully or not, new rationalizations of his/her presence. Moreover, he/she often presents a premature physical over-deterioration linked to difficult existing conditions. Caring for the elderly from an ethnopsychiatric approach supposes firstly, to grant him correct life and physical health conditions; secondly, training of professionals to consider their specific cultural dimensions and at last, adapting the care and help services. Ethnopsychiatry or cultural psychiatry in the elderly must take into account the social and cultural representations of the diseases. Presently, depression among the elderly is common in Africa and dementia is not rare.