The Unique Challenges Faced By Psychiatrists and Other Mental Health Professionals Working in a Multicultural Setting

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes the unique challenges that face psychiatrists and other mental health professionals serving a multicultural population in a limited geographic setting, based on the author's experiences working as a psychiatrist on a mobile crisis unit from 1984 through 1991 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Of special importance, the paper presents and provides support for the "interaction hypothesis", which proposes that sociocultural background factors interact with mental disorders to produce dissimilar behavioral expressions of the same disorder among members of different ethnic groups. Concern is voiced that mental health professions, in order to provide effective treatment in multicultural settings, need to understand and accept each ethnic group's idiosyncracies, identity, and background.

A Comparison of Public Attitudes in Britain and Saudi Arabia Towards Auditory Hallucinations

“…According to the results and the reasoning followed here, less success and more rejection might be expected. In this context, the results support Chiu's (1994) contention that mental health professionals working in multicultural settings need to understand each group's beliefs and cultural background. Third, there may be scope for the adaptation of psychological approaches developed in the West for patients with auditory hallucinations to Arabic cultures.…”

Characteristics of Vietnamese Patients Attending an Anxiety Clinic in Australia and Perceptions of the Wider Vietnamese Community about Anxiety

“…Close-knit Vietnamese families may also prefer to provide support to mentally ill family members themselves, seeking external help only when the problem becomes incapacitating. Either or both explanations may account for the tendency among Vietnamese people to seek mental health assistance only when symptoms are very severe (Chiu, 1994).…”

Problems Caused for Mental Health Professionals Worldwide by Increasing Multicultural Populations and Proposed Solutions

“…such as in schizophrenia: and in how they relate to initial help-seeking, the authority of physicians, medicine-taking, and treatment follow-up, among other factors (Angel & Thoits. 1987: Chiu, 1994Mofic, 1983). In addition, patients from diverse sociocultural backgrounds, as a result of their different norms, values, and beliefs, tend to d e h e health and illness differently and to attribute the cause of their mental health problems to a wide array of factors.…”