title: Healers and psychiatrists: the transformation of mental health care in tajikistan.
abstract: This article examines the transformation of mental health care in Tajikistan from the time of Russian colonization of Central Asia until the most recent years of post-independence. It incorporates a review of published literature into the analysis of locally available reports, focus group discussions, interviews and oral histories collected between 2005 and 2008. Traditional healers play a significant role in contemporary Tajikistan, where mental health care provision is influenced by the legacy of Soviet psychiatry. Tajik mental health care may now be in a "dormant" phase, characterized by a widespread neglect of people with mental illnesses.
authors.affiliation: University College London. a.latypov@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Alisher
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Latypov
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D017144:Focus Groups; D005544:Forecasting; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000639:trends; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008602:Mental Healing / Q000523:psychology*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000639:trends*; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000639:trends; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000639:trends*; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012922:Social Change; D012945:Social Values / Q000208:ethnology; D013620:Tajikistan