Social class and mental illness in children. The diagnosis of organicity and mental retardation

The grieving witch: a framework for applying principles of cultural psychiatry to clinical practice

While most psychiatrists would probably agree that culture affects clinical practice, the task of translating this proposition into practical principles remains to be accomplished. This review article examines research findings and, based on this examination, suggests management principles for an episode of illness in a woman of different cultural background than those of her caretakers. The review examines how cultural considerations affect the definition, presentation, causes, diagnosis and treatment of illness.

Social class and psychiatric diagnosis: differential findings in a lower-class sample

Social class and the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual II Diagnosis were examined for all patients contracting the Department of Psychiatry over a year at a large county hospital. This sample was primarily lower class -50 per cent Class V and 33 per cent in Class IV. All diagnoses showed average class between IV and V. Organic brain syndrome, both psychiatric and non-psychotic, and mental retardation had lower average social class than other diagnoses. A small sample of the diagnosis behaviour disorder of childhood and adolescence was also lower than other diagnoses. Class V patients with mental malfunction may present differently than patients from other social classes. The absence of differences on neurosis and functional psychosis may have been due to the predominance of lower class patients, diagnosticians more familiar with lower class patients, or the allowable choice of diagnoses.