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

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  • Thomas L. Chiu

    (Sunset Park Mental Health Center of the Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York)

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 professionals, in order to provide effective treatment in multicultural settings, need to understand and accept each ethnic group's idiosyncracies, identity, and background.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas L. Chiu, 1994. "The Unique Challenges Faced By Psychiatrists and Other Mental Health Professionals Working in a Multicultural Setting," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 40(1), pages 61-74, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:40:y:1994:i:1:p:61-74
    DOI: 10.1177/002076409404000106
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sussman, Linda K. & Robins, Lee N. & Earls, Felton, 1987. "Treatment-seeking for depression by black and white Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 187-196, January.
    2. Migliore, Sam, 1989. "Punctuality, pain and time-orientation among Sicilian-Canadians," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 851-859, January.
    3. Ellmer, Rosemary & Olbrisch, Mary Ellen, 1983. "The contribution of a cultural perspective in understanding and evaluating client satisfaction," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 6(3-4), pages 275-281, January.
    4. Thomas L. Chiu & Chuck Primeau, 1991. "A Psychiatric Mobile Crisis Unit in New York City: Description and Assessment, with Implications for Mental Health Care in the 1990S," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 37(4), pages 251-258, December.
    5. White, Geoffrey M., 1982. "The role of cultural explanations in 'somatization' and 'psychologization'," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 16(16), pages 1519-1530, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alean Al-Krenawi & John R. Graham & Menachim Ophir & Jamil Kandah, 2001. "Ethnic and Gender Differences in Mental Health Utilization: the Case of Muslim Jordanian and Moroccan Jewish Israeli Out-Patient Psychiatric Patients," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 47(3), pages 42-54, September.
    2. Alean Al-Krenawi, 1999. "Explanations of Mental Health Symptoms By the Bedouin-Arabs of the Negev," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 45(1), pages 56-64, March.
    3. Saheed Wahass & Gerry Kent, 1997. "A Comparison of Public Attitudes in Britain and Saudi Arabia Towards Auditory Hallucinations," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 43(3), pages 175-183, September.
    4. Dinesh Bhugra, 1997. "Setting Up Psychiatric Services: Cross-Cultural Issues in Planning and Delivery," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 43(1), pages 16-28, March.

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