Representations of Asians’ Mental Health in British Psychiatry

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore representations of people of South Asian origin in British psychiatry and, furthermore, to examine the implications which specific representations may have on the mental health services which Asians receive. I argue that studies of the mental health of Asians in Britain are essentially of two kinds. Firstly they are those conducted in the main by psychiatrists and psychologists, which seek to establish levels of psychiatric morbidity among Asians as compared with the indigenous white population. The focus of these studies has frequently been an analysis of psychiatric hospital admissions. The second type of study can be described as being more anthropological in character and has been oriented towards identifying concepts of mental health and illness among Asians and the impact of what are construed as culturally specific forms of symptom presentation on interaction with psychiatrists and other professionals involved in the delivery of mental health services.