Psychiatric diagnosis and classification reflect the social and political context of an era and are embedded in it. In the last few decades, culture-bound syndromes reported in non-Western societies constituted the major focus of contention over the validity and universality of psychiatric diagnosis. In contemporary times, social, economic, and political factors, such as the hegemony of the DSM discourse, the managed care culture, pharmaceutical forces, and the global burden of disease study, have virtually made culture-bound syndromes ‘disappear’. Once widely believed to be rare outside of the developed West, depression has rapidly become the master narrative of mental health worldwide. In the context of global mental health, the field of psychiatric classification must go beyond routine debates over categories. In order to address the growing discrepancy between needs and services, international cultural psychiatry must engage key social forces, such as psychiatric epidemiology, primary care psychiatry, integration of diagnostic systems, stigma, and advocacy.

Keywords:
Culture-bound syndromes, Global mental health, Psychiatric diagnostic systems
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© 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel
2002
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