[Psychological disorders in Ethiopian university students--problems in transcultural psychiatry]

In the course of the ten-year period 1979-1988 the authors subjected to psychiatric examination or hospitalized 52 Ethiopian university students. The authors were concerned with the problem whether in the development and character of the psychopathological symptoms factors of the different cultural environment participated. University students sent to Czechoslovakia are a specific group which is not representative of the Ethiopian population. This may be the reason why the revealed symptoms did not differ markedly from conditions in the local population. This applies in particular to neurotic disorders, among which the neurasthenic syndrome predominated. In 14 hospitalized students schizophrenia was diagnosed 6 times, endogenous depression 6 times and neurotic symptoms due to maladaptation twice. The schizophrenic attacks presented classical symptoms, after their regression there was however, complete remission and thus the original diagnosis was somewhat doubtful.