title: The meaning of pain: a cultural formulation of a Syrian woman in Sweden.
abstract: Ethnography provides a method for psychiatric assessment to obtain an insight into the patient's culture, context, and life situation. The Outline for a Cultural Formulation (CF) is an ethnography-based, idiographic formulation intended to complement the multiaxial assessment in DSM-IV. Its contribution to routine clinical praxis will be discussed with reference to a case of a Syrian-born woman in Sweden. Using the CF in the clinical diagnostic process shifted understanding of the patient's suffering from a mainly somatic frame of reference to an emphasis on emotional and social aspects. The usefulness of ethnography in clinical psychiatric diagnostic practice is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Transcultural Centre, Stockholm County Council, Sweden. sofie.baarnhielm@sll.se
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bäärnhielm
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D003469:Culture; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D013548:Sweden; D013593:Syria / Q000208:ethnology