Cross-cultural research on severe mental disorders: issues and findings

The present paper will review and discuss research issues and findings of recent cross-cultural studies of severe mental disorders. The paper is divided into two main sections. The first section will discuss: (1) the concept of culture, (2) hierarchical levels of human behavior determinants, (3) the cultural variability continuum, and (4) the concept of self. The second section will discuss: (1) epidemiology, (2) culture and clinical phenomenology in severe disorders, and (3) culture as an etiological determinant. The paper closes with a discussion of some conclusions and suggestions for future research.