Culturally-sensitive complaints of depressions and anxieties in women

Abstract

Background: Current classifications of Mental Disorders are centered on Westernized concepts and constructs. "Cross-cultural sensitivity" emphasizes culturally-appropriate translations of symptoms and questions, assuming that concepts and constructs are applicable. Methods: Groups and individual psychiatrists from various cultures from Asia, Latin America, North Africa and Eastern Europe prepared descriptions of main symptoms and complaints of treatment-seeking women in their cultures, which are interpreted by clinicians as a manifestation of a clinically-relevant dysphoric disorder. They also transliterated the expressions of DSM IV criteria of main dysphoric disorders in their cultures. Results: In many non-western cultures the symptoms and constructs that are interpreted and treated as dysphoric disorders are mostly somatic and are different from the Western-centered DSM or ICD systems. In many cases the DSM and ICD criteria of depression and anxieties are not even acknowledged by p