title: Current research on transcultural psychiatry in the Anglophone Caribbean: epistemological, public policy, and epidemiological challenges.
abstract: In this article, we review recent research on mental health in the Caribbean. Three major themes emerge: (a) the effects of colonialism on the Caribbean psyche; (b) decolonization of psychiatric public policy, including innovative treatment approaches, deinstitutionalization, and community and policy responses to mental health issues; and (c) the nature and epidemiology of psychiatric pathology among contemporary Caribbean people, with particular focus on migration, genetic versus social causation of psychosis and personality disorders, and mechanisms of resilience and social capital. Caribbean transcultural psychiatry illustrates the principles of equipoise unique to developing countries that protect the wellness and continued survival of postcolonial Caribbean people.
authors.affiliation: University of the West Indies.
authors.forename: Frederick W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Hickling
authors.forename: Roger C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D018595:Colonialism; D005008:Ethnopsychology; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D008605:Mental Health Services; D014900:West Indies / Q000208:ethnology
keywords: Caribbean; colonialism; cultural psychiatry; diaspora; mental health services; migration; psychosis