Cultural psychiatry: a general perspective.

The current scene in the field of cultural psychiatry shows a vigorous growth, multifaceted conceptual and research developments and more relevant clinical presence. After a pertinent definition of the discipline, this chapter examines the contribution of cultural psychiatry to the etiopathogenesis of mental disorders, to the variations of clinical presentations in numerous entities, to psychiatric diagnosis and treatment and to the relatively unexplored rubric of preventive psychiatry. Advanced concepts of neurosciences and technology-based research can find a place in the realm of biocultural correlates. The role of culture in the definition of mental illness, the renewed notions of the old 'culture-bound syndromes', hope, cognition and culture in psychiatric treatments (including the so-called 'cultural therapies'), and resiliency are areas duly examined and discussed. Cultural psychiatry has re-emerged as a reliable body of knowledge aimed at a comprehensive assessment of human beings as patients.