The incidence of heart disease in Mexico

Transcultural Psychosomatics

“…Since there are few psychiatrists or anthropologists who competently straddle both fields, team cooperation which is costly and not easy becomes a necessity; (2) hospitalised patients suffering from psychosomatic disorders constitute a self-selected sample; (3) they are usually admitted to medical wards and there fore not easily accessible to psychiatrists; (4) language difficulties may present serious difficulties; (5) psychological tests (projective tests and intelligence tests) are to some extent culture-bound, and (6) in many developing countries X-ray equipment and laboratory facilities for adequate physical examination are lack ing; malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, chronic infectious diseases and worm infes tations which obscure the clinical picture, are rampant, and the small number of available psychiatrists are not always qualified to deal with underlying psycho dynamics.…”