Mental health, race and culture /

This intellectually stimulating book (1st ed., CH, Sep'92, 30-0330) challenges one's knowledge and perceptions. Fernando (London Metropolitan Univ., UK), who is originally from Sri Lanka, contrasts traditional approaches to mental health in the US and UK with Asian and African approaches. His thesis is that European and American therapeutic approaches are biased since they are based in historical imperialism. He believes that this tendency works against improvements in the mental health of low income persons, immigrants, and refugees; and that data collection efforts blur characteristics such as race, ethnicity, culture, and identity. Emotional expression, ways of coping with stress, and definitions of mental illness vary among cultures, communities, and families. Globally, trauma results from suffering and violence due to wars, natural disasters, and poverty, yet interventions remain a mixture of Western public health and community psychology. The author contends that mental health services in non-Western developing countries and for all immigrants should be suited to the cultural context and needs of specific communities rather than merely copying Western approaches. He further suggests plurality in therapies for all and emphasizes the need for mental health to be understood and treated cross-culturally. Many new references appear in the already extensive bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general readers. M. K. Snooks formerly, University of Houston--Clear Lake