Framing research on culture in psychiatric diagnosis: the case of the DSM-IV.
The fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association 1994) treats the concept of culture as directly relevant to the diagnostic task. In contrast, its predecessor, the DSM-III-R, restricted its coverage to two paragraphs of the concept, cautioning that when the manual was used with clients from different cultural groups, cultural factors could interfere with diagnosis. I believe that the adequacy of the cultural insertions in the DSM-IV should be debated but I also believe that the changes will be considered important. The premise of this article is that they are important. The objective is to show that the cultural insertions in DSM-IV can be organized and focused on important issues of research.
Rogler
L H
LH
Albert Schweitzer University, Bronx, NY 10458, USA.
D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012945:Social Values