Healers and psychiatrists: the transformation of mental health care in tajikistan.
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.
Latypov
Alisher
A
University College London. a.latypov@ucl.ac.uk
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