[Depressive disorders in a globalizing world: issues for psychiatric diagnosis]

We review the literature addressing psychiatric assessment in a globalizing world, with an emphasis on depressive disorders. After a presentation of the current stakes in the game of migration, we will explore the quandary concerning psychiatric classifications and their validity in transcultural situations. The treatment of culture in the DSM-IV (American classification system) and the ICD-10 (WHO classification system) will be discussed. Despite differences of symptomatic presentation and explanatory models of illness, depressive disorders are encountered everywhere, but the consequences for the individual may vary from one cultural context to another one. Therefore, psychiatric evaluation should be integrated into a holistic diagnostic formulation.