Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry

Representing the clinical state of the art in culturally competent assessment and treatment, and providing important information on the four main racial/ethnic minority groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, and Native Americans and Alaska Natives), the Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry synthesizes the collected wisdom from the editor's 10 years of teaching cultural psychiatry as a CME course with the professional experience of seven other contributors in using and teaching about DSM-IV's Outline for Cultural Formulation.

Following an initial chapter about how the influence of culture affects every level of the mental health system, and how clinicians can gain insight into the complex interplay between culture and mental illness to ultimately improve patient care, six subsequent chapters by 8 authors use numerous illustrations and clinical vignettes as they address Issues for assessing and treating African Americans—Presents a framework and context for understanding African Americans and their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors about mental health and mental illness.

Raises awareness of racism, underdiagnosis, and misdiagnosis as they affect assessment and treatment.

Includes an appendix of assessment tips written by APA Minority Fellows.

Issues for assessing and treating Asian Americans—Details the need for an empathic, non-confrontational approach in evaluation and therapy to understand the Asian American patient's culture, health beliefs, and life philosophies and therefore improve the potential to engage them in treatment.