Culture and schizophrenia

This article reviews the literature on culture and schizophrenia, the aetiology of schizophrenia, and service evaluations about how it is best managed. It examines how schizophrenia affects and manifests itself in individuals from different cultures, whilst assessing the extent to which migration, as a process, plays a role. Furthermore, it considers the impact that cultural background has on diagnostic practices. The authors argue that a holistic approach needs to be taken in order to understand and respond effectively to ethnic inequalities in service access, experience, and outcome. One cannot solely look through the lens of culture but, rather, one needs to analyse how culture interlinks with internal and structural factors such as race, levels of integration, socio-economic status, and social capital. Effective diagnosis and treatment therefore needs to take into account the individual self and history, together with the psychosocial realities. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.