Overview

What is the relationship between culture and mental health? Is mental illness universal? Are symptoms of mental disorders different across social groups? In the late 1960s these questions gave rise to a groundbreaking series of articles written by the psychiatrist Henri Ellenberger, who would go on to publish The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry in 1970. Fifty years later they are presented for the first time in English translation, introduced by historian of science Emmanuel Delille. Ethnopsychiatry explores one of the most controversial subjects in psychiatric research: the role of culture in mental health. In his articles Ellenberger addressed the complex clinical and theoretical problems of cultural specificity in mental illness, collective psychoses, differentiations within cultural groups, and biocultural interactions. He was especially attuned to the correlations between rapid cultural transformations in postwar society, urbanization, and the frequency of mental illness. Ellenberger drew from a vast and varied primary and secondary literature in several languages, as well as from his own findings in clinical practice, which included work with indigenous peoples. In analyzing Ellenberger's contributions Delille unveils the transnational and interdisciplinary origins of transcultural psychiatry, which grew out of knowledge networks that crisscrossed the globe. The book has a rich selection of appendices, including Ellenberger's lecture notes on a case of peyote addiction and his correspondence with anthropologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereux. These original essays, and their masterful contextualization, provide a compelling introduction to the foundations of transcultural psychiatry and one of its most distinguished and prolific researchers.

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9780228003854

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Ethnopsychiatry presents yet another dimension of Ellenberger's thought and calls for a reappraisal of his eclectic oeuvre. Moreover, with its emphasis on cultural values and local ways of life, the book provides real insight into the challenges involved when one takes up the imperative to consider cultural diversity in psychiatric practice. Ryan L. Allen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

We see Ellenberger's contribution to ethnopsychiatry as reflected in his writing and lecture notes and drafts from this period. The topics covered are varied and drawn from a vast secondary literature that was at Ellenberger's command. They include the problems of how to acquire cultural specificity when we talk about psychiatric illness, how mental health must be understood in relation to culture, and how particular cultural developments such as urbanization contribute to the formation of mental illness. This book will be welcomed by social historians, scholars of the history of medicine and of psychiatry, and practitioners of psychotherapy. Choice Ethnopsychiatry presents yet another dimension of Ellenberger's thought and calls for a reappraisal of his eclectic oeuvre. Moreover, with its emphasis on cultural values and local ways of life, the book provides real insight into the challenges involved when one takes up the imperative to consider cultural diversity in psychiatric practice. Ryan L. Allen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Author Information

Henri F. Ellenberger (1905-1993) was a physician and a pioneering figure in transcultural psychiatry, criminology, and the history of medicine. Emmanuel Delille is an historian of science and a researcher at the Centre Marc Bloch. Jonathan Kaplansky is a literary translator. He lives in Montreal.

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