Migration, ethnicity and diagnosis

Various studies have demonstrated an increase in mental illness in black immigrans in Britain. A retrospective study of hospital records suggests that if the culturally atypical features of paranoid and religious flavour are taken into consideration, rates are then similar to those of the British-born. An interim report from an ongoing prospective study, using the Present State Examination and a Religious Interest Questionnaire, suggests that some of the black patients with diagnoses of schizophrenia might be more reasonably considered to have acute psychotic reactions or bouffées délirantes. The relative significance of culturally significant features as consitituting an entity or merely being pathoplastic is briefly discussed.