Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Department of Psychiatry, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK
Correspondence: Dr Mandy Sharpley, Section of Social Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, DeCrespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
ABSTRACT
Background Increased rates of schizophrenia continue to be reported among the AfricanCaribbean population in England.
Aims To evaluate the competing biological, psychological and social explanations that have been proposed.
Method Literature review.
Results The AfricanCaribbean population in England is at increased risk of both schizophrenia and mania; the higher rates remain when operational diagnostic criteria are used. The excess of the two psychotic disorders are probably linked: AfricanCaribbean patients with schizophrenia show more affective symptoms, and a more relapsing course with greater social disruption but fewer chronic negative symptoms, than White patients. No simple hypothesis explains these findings.
Conclusions More complex hypotheses are needed. One such links cultural variation in symptom reporting, the use of phenomenological constructs by psychiatrists and social disadvantage.
Large-scale migration from the Caribbean countries to England began in the early 1950s and was mainly complete by the mid-1960s. Higher than expected rates of schizophrenia among AfricanCaribbean people living in England were reported as early as the 1960s (Kiev, 1965; Hemsi, 1967), and consistently thereafter (Bebbington et al, 1981; Dean et al, 1981; McGovern & Cope, 1987; Cochrane & Bal, 1989).
However, the conclusions that can be drawn from the early studies are limited, since some depended on routine hospital admission data; others did not use operational definitions of schizophrenia; place of birth was not always noted; and ethnicity was rarely recorded, thus excluding all AfricanCaribbean patients born in the UK (reviewed by Castle et al, 1998). The last two factors became particularly important when, in the late 1980s, several studies reported that the rates of schizophrenia were even higher in the England-born children of the immigrants (McGovern & Cope, 1987; Harrison et al, 1988).
Studies by Harrison et al (1988) and others (Castle et al, 1991; Wesseley et al, 1991) overcame many of the above methodological problems, but estimating the size of the denominator population from which the cases come remained difficult (Cruickshank & Beevers, 1989). The 1991 UK census was the first to include comprehensive data on the ethnic composition of the general population, and allowed subsequent studies to use a more accurate denominator. A significantly increased incidence of schizophrenia in AfricanCaribbean people was still found in these later studies (King et al, 1994; van Os et al, 1996a; Bhugra et al, 1997).
The above findings are at odds with the incidence rates reported for Caribbean countries. Thus, the incidence of schizophrenia in Jamaica (Hickling & Rodgers-Johnson, 1995), Trinidad (Bhugra et al, 1996) and Barbados (Mahy et al, 1999) has been found to be similar to the rate for the White population in England.
Thus, an explanation is needed as to why the incidence of schizophrenia is raised in AfricanCaribbeans living in England not only relative to the host English population but also to their population of origin in the Caribbean.
IS IT REALLY SCHIZOPHRENIA?
Misdiagnosis?
Some researchers have claimed that the high incidence of schizophrenia
among AfricanCaribbean residents in England is due to misdiagnosis by
British psychiatrists unfamiliar with Caribbean beliefs
(Littlewood & Lipsedge,
1981; Sashidharan,
1993). Lewis et al
(1990), however, reported that
schizophrenia was not overdiagnosed on the basis of ethnicity, and no
statistical difference was found between the diagnostic attitudes of foreign
and British-trained graduates.
Hickling et al (1999) set out to determine which of these views is correct. A group of patients diagnosed by British psychiatrists was then re-diagnosed by a Jamaican psychiatrist. The British psychiatrists diagnosed 55% of the Black patients as having schizophrenia and the Jamaican psychiatrist 52%, not a noticeable difference. However, interestingly, the diagnoses of the British psychiatrists and the AfricanCaribbean psychiatrist agreed in only 55% of cases. Thus, this study indicates that the routine clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia is not a reliable one, but provides no evidence that it is applied in a racially biased manner.
Are psychotic symptoms more common among
AfricanCaribbeans?
Even though AfricanCaribbean patients meet the criteria for
schizophrenia, this does not necessarily mean that the phenomena they exhibit
have the same implications as they would in White patients. Could it be simply
that members of the AfricanCaribbean community more often have symptoms
that British psychiatrists are trained to take as evidence for
schizophrenia?
Modern Western cultures do not assign credibility to hallucinations, and generally regard them as pathological. However, in many non-Western societies, hallucinatory experiences are not considered bizarre, and are considered real as opposed to as if real (al-Issa, 1995). Thus, individuals from minority groups in Western countries may exhibit a greater readiness to report such experiences than the majority population. Indeed, increased frequency and severity of hallucinations and paranoid ideas in Blacks compared with Whites have been reported in the USA (Adebimpe et al, 1981, 1982; Mukherjee et al, 1983; Lawson et al, 1984) and in Britain (Ndetei & Vadher, 1985).
Evidence that this may be the case in the UK-resident AfricanCaribbean community comes from a study of the general British population. Johns et al (1998) analysed a large survey of psychiatric symptoms and found that hallucinations were reported 2.5 times more commonly by people of Caribbean origin (10%) than by the White respondents (4%). An excess of delusional ideation was also found in a small sample of the general AfricanCaribbean population in Britain, compared with the White population (Sharpley & Peters, 1999).
More affective symptoms?
Leaving aside the symptoms that determine whether individuals qualify for
the diagnosis of schizophrenia, AfricanCaribbean patients with
schizophrenia may differ from their White counterparts in other ways.
Hutchinson et al
(1999) carried out a factor
analysis of symptoms presented by White and AfricanCaribbean patients
diagnosed as having schizophrenia. There were no differences between the
scores of the two groups on five of the six resultant symptom dimensions but
the AfricanCaribbean patients scored more highly on a mixed
maniacatatonia dimension. Subsequently, Hutchinson et al
(2001) looked at ethnic
differences in symptom presentation among a broader group of patients with
psychosis. AfricanCaribbean patients were found to present more often
with coexistent depression and anxiety, de-realisation and a loss of affect or
feeling. These findings suggest that psychotic illness in this group may be
characterised by a non-specific affective component, which may be difficult to
recognise without specific enquiry.
Interestingly, AfricanCaribbean residents in England have previously been reported as being at increased risk for mania (Leff et al, 1976; Hunt et al, 1993), and especially schizomania (van Os et al, 1996b); it has been suggested that the latter may be a reactive mania, a type of stress reaction (Tyrer, 1982). Further support for the idea that AfricanCaribbean patients with a predominantly affective illness may be at risk of receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia comes from the finding that AfricanCaribbean patients with manic depression are more likely than their White counterparts to exhibit Schneiderian first-rank symptoms and to have mood-incongruent delusions (Kirov & Murray, 1999).
Does different outcome mean a different illness?
A further way of establishing whether patients who receive the same
diagnosis have the same underlying illness is to examine their outcome
(Thakker & Ward, 1998).
McGovern & Cope (1991)
noted that features suggestive of a more atypical psychosis in British
AfricanCaribbean patients include a significant excess of acute-onset
illnesses (usually associated with a good outcome), and a lower proportion of
patients with first-rank symptoms; also a larger proportion have a change of
diagnosis during admission, suggesting clinicians have more difficulty with
diagnosis. However, evidence suggestive of more typical schizophrenia among
AfricanCaribbean patients included their tendency to have more
prolonged symptoms and admissions, a stronger family history and a large
number of readmissions.
Harvey et al (1990) and Sugarman (1992) found few differences in terms of symptoms, social functioning and course of illness between White and AfricanCaribbean patients with schizophrenia. In contrast, Birchwood et al (1992) and McGovern et al (1994) reported better outcomes for AfricanCaribbean patients. Harrison et al (1999) found a non-significant trend at 3-year follow-up for AfricanCaribbean subjects to have more affective symptoms and a shorter duration of initial episode, and to experience fewer, less severe psychotic symptoms at follow-up; the trend for better overall course for the AfricanCaribbean patients further improved when confounding variables were adjusted for.
McKenzie et al (1995) conducted a 4-year follow-up study of patients with recent-onset psychosis and found that the AfricanCaribbean subjects spent significantly more time in a recovered state, were less likely to have had a continuous, unremitting illness and were less at risk of self-harm and suicide; on the other hand, they suffered more imprisonments and compulsory admissions. Thus, the outcome for AfricanCaribbean patients was not so much better as different.
Takei et al (1998) conducted an 18-year follow-up of AfricanCaribbean and White patients with psychosis. Diagnostic consistency between the two groups across the period was not significantly different and identical proportions were diagnosed as psychotic at follow-up. However, again the AfricanCaribbean subjects had had more compulsory admissions and showed a tendency to have fewer negative symptoms, as well as more symptom-related dysfunctioning and more limited leisure activity.
Thus, there is some suggestion that AfricanCaribbean patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia tend to have more relapsing and remitting illnesses, more affective symptoms and more social disturbance, but fewer negative and persistent symptoms than their White counterparts (McKenzie & Murray, 1999).
BIOLOGICAL HYPOTHESES
Genetic predisposition
Since schizophrenia is generally thought to be under considerable genetic
influence, genetic predisposition among the AfricanCaribbean population
has been investigated. Both Sugarman & Craufurd
(1994) and Hutchinson et
al (1996) found that the
morbid risk for schizophrenia was similar for parents and siblings of White
and first-generation British AfricanCaribbean patients with
schizophrenia, and for the parents of second-generation
AfricanCaribbean probands. However, the siblings of second-generation
schizophrenia probands had a morbid risk for schizophrenia that was markedly
higher than that of their White counterparts. This implies that strong
environmental factors are acting on second-generation
AfricanCaribbeans, and suggests that individuals from certain families
may be particularly vulnerable (Hutchinson
et al, 1996).
Predisposition to migration
A related hypothesis suggests that the genetic predisposition to develop
schizophrenia is associated with the tendency to migrate
(Odegaard, 1932). Thomas
et al (1993) have
further suggested that intermarriage among genetically predisposed,
first-generation immigrants may lead to even higher rates in their children.
However, the Canadian Taskforce study
(Canadian Taskforce on Mental Health
Issues, 1988), which comprehensively reviewed the migration
literature, concluded that there are equal numbers of studies demonstrating
that immigrants do and do not have higher rates of mental illness than the
native population.
Such contradictory findings may be due to the fact that individuals migrate for widely different reasons to avoid persecution, because of dissatisfaction with the political regime in their own country, and in search of better educational and economic opportunities. It cannot even be assumed that those moving country as part of a group migration all share the same motives or lifestyle (Murray & Hutchinson, 1999). Furthermore, the experience of migration can be positive or negative, and can have different impacts on the mental health of individuals depending on many factors, including their gender and age and socio-economic and cultural factors in the country of reception (Cheng & Chang, 1999).
Prenatal and perinatal complications
Prenatal and perinatal complications are associated with an increased risk
of later schizophrenia (reviewed by Geddes
& Lawrie, 1995; McGrath
& Murray, 1995). Hutchinson et al
(1997) examined the frequency
of obstetric complications in a series of patients with psychosis in London;
these were almost twice as common in White as in AfricanCaribbean
patients. Thus, obstetric risk plays no greater role, and possibly a lesser
role, in the aetiology of schizophrenia in AfricanCaribbean compared
with White patients in England.
Prenatal viral infections have also been proposed as potential neurodevelopmental hazards increasing the risk of later schizophrenia (Mednick et al, 1988; O'Callaghan et al, 1991). Individuals brought up in the Caribbean islands in the immediate postwar period had little immunity to certain viruses such as rubella, since the island populations were too small to sustain endemic infection. AfricanCaribbean young women who migrated to the UK during the 1950s were highly susceptible to rubella (Nicoll & Logan, 1989), with resultant high rates of congenital rubella in their children (Parsons, 1963). A similar model has also been applied to schizophrenia (Glover, 1989; Harrison, 1990) but no convincing evidence has been produced.
Risk factors in childhood
Children who later develop schizophrenia have lower mean IQs, more
personality and interpersonal problems than their peers, an excess of conduct
disorder and low educational achievement
(Jones et al, 1994;
Davies et al, 1998).
Thus, it may be relevant that AfricanCaribbean children in England
achieve less academically and have higher rates of diagnosed learning
disability compared with the population as a whole
(Wing, 1979). Furthermore,
AfricanCaribbean children in London are more likely than White children
to have been exposed to social factors known to be associated with childhood
psychiatric disorder. AfricanCaribbean children with diagnoses of
psychiatric disorders are especially likely to have had such experiences: for
example, coming from one-parent families, separation from parents, and being
in children's homes or foster care
(Maughan, 1989). The
aetiological significance of these factors in AfricanCaribbeans is
unclear.
Cannabis use
Excessive use of cannabis has been proposed as a risk factor for both
psychosis in general and for the excess found in the AfricanCaribbean
population. However, controversy surrounds both claims
(Ghodse, 1986;
Thornicroft, 1990;
McGuire et al,
1994).
The most convincing work on the general question comes from Andreasson et al (1987), who conducted a 15-year prospective study on the risk of schizophrenia among cannabis users compared with non-users. Cannabis was found to be an independent risk factor for schizophrenia. Furthermore, some patients seem particularly prone to an acute psychotic relapse after taking cannabis (Treffert, 1978; Turner & Tsuang, 1990).
When Callan & Littlewood (1998) asked the relatives of Black and White patients about the cause of the illness, the relatives of the former significantly more often blamed it on cannabis misuse. This could be because they have more knowledge about the effects of cannabis, as it has been used more widely and for longer in the Caribbean, where it is commonly believed to cause psychosis (Littlewood, 1998).
In contrast, McGuire et al (1995) did not find any significant difference in the frequency with which cannabis was used by AfricanCaribbean patients compared with White patients with psychosis. Furthermore, research conducted in the Netherlands (Selten & Sijben, 1994; Selten et al, 1997) found that consumption of cannabis was lower among immigrants of Caribbean origin than among the native population although their incidence of schizophrenia was higher. In short, the evidence concerning cannabis is confusing.
SOCIAL HYPOTHESES
Urban effect?
The association between deprived, rundown inner-city areas and high rates
of psychiatric admissions in general
(Ineichen et al,
1984; Giggs & Cooper,
1987) and schizophrenia in particular is well known. In recent
years, several studies have suggested that this is not simply a consequence of
social drift or social residue (Freeman,
1994) and have claimed that being born or brought up in the city
increases the risk of schizophrenia (Lewis
et al, 1992;
Marcellis et al,
1998). Possible explanations have included: social factors that
may be more common in cities, for example stressful life events
(Brown & Prudo, 1981),
social isolation (Burnett et al,
1999), overcrowding
(Magaziner, 1988),
overstimulation (Wing, 1989), higher crime levels (Dekker et
al, 1997) and lower socio-economic class
(Castle et al, 1993);
physical factors more common in cities, for example exposure to air, lead or
other pollutants (Freeman,
1994; Dekker et al,
1997); and biological factors such as low birthweight, and
prenatal maternal and other infections
(Jablensky, 1988;
Torrey & Bowler, 1991; Takei et al,
1992).
Since the majority of AfricanCaribbean people in the UK live in inner cities, the high incidence could be an effect of urban living rather than ethnicity per se. Harrison et al (1988) did not find area of residence capable of explaining the elevated rates of schizophrenia in the AfricanCaribbean population. However, it could be argued that even within inner-city areas, AfricanCaribbean people are more often subjected to adverse social factors such as social isolation, stressful life events (Brown & Prudo, 1981), lower socio-economic class (Castle et al, 1993) and greater levels of unemployment (Bhugra et al, 1997).
Social disadvantage?
The social systems in a community have a profound influence on people's
health (Patrick & Wickizer,
1995; Lomas,
1998). Such systems include the community's physical and social
structure and social cohesion (otherwise known as social capital
Putnam, 1995). These can
either encourage or discourage mutual support or caring, self-esteem, a sense
of belonging and enriched social relationships. Social cohesion or capital is
the product of the adequacy of the physical and social structure in a
community; it is defined by levels of trust of fellow citizens, norms of
reciprocity and the extent of membership of various voluntary groups and
associations. Thus, social capital can be seen to facilitate cooperation for
mutual benefit (Kawachi et al,
1997; Lomas,
1998).
Not only do AfricanCaribbean people living in the UK suffer considerable social disadvantages, but it can be argued that the social structure of their community appears compromised relative to other groups; for example, they have more single-parent families, more separation from parents, and greater experience of being in children's homes or foster care (Cox, 1977; Littlewood & Lipsedge, 1982; Maughan, 1989). More people live alone (Burnett et al, 1999), more are unemployed (Bhugra et al, 1997) and more are imprisoned: any of these factors may result in a form of social exclusion. Furthermore, it has been suggested that racism may swell feelings of relative deprivation and further increase the susceptibility to poor health (Nazroo, 1998).
Pathways to care
The pathway to psychiatric care of AfricanCaribbean patients with
schizophrenia in the UK involves an excess of police involvement, a low level
of general practitioner involvement and a greater use of compulsory admission
(Rwegellera, 1980;
Harrison et al, 1989;
Davies et al,
1996).
Studies have shown that the police recognise mental disturbance appropriately (Rogers & Faulkner, 1987; Dunn & Fahy, 1990) but they do not explain the differential detention of one group over another. Some of the excess may be due to AfricanCaribbean patients not seeking a general practitioner's help early on in their illness, with resultant need for later and more dramatic intervention by the emergency services (Harrison et al, 1989; Owens et al, 1991). With regards to compulsory admission, young Black men are stereotypically seen as being more threatening and disturbed, which may contribute to the increased rates among this group (Pipe et al, 1991).
When considering first-onset psychosis cases, the situation appears to be somewhat different. Cole et al (1995) looked specifically at this group and found that ethnicity did not significantly determine pathways to care, although a trend towards more compulsory admission was found for the Black group. Instead, police involvement, compulsory admissions and police Section 136 (of the Mental Health Act 1983) were all strongly associated with the absence of GP involvement and of help-seeking from a friend or relative. Similarly, Burnett et al (1999) found that unemployment, living alone and living in public housing, rather than ethnicity, were all significantly associated with compulsory admission. However, AfricanCaribbean patients were much more likely to be readmitted compulsorily than Whites; Burnett et al suggested that low levels of general practitioner involvement among AfricanCaribbean patients may contribute to the differential rates of compulsory admission over the course of the illness.
Thus, differences in pathways to and through care are due to a combination of social factors, the structure of and access to care and, possibly, the experience of care received.
Patients' and relatives' opinion
Could patients' and relatives' views of psychiatric services play a part in
elevating rates of psychosis? McGovern & Hemmings
(1994) found no significant
differences between AfricanCaribbean and White patients and relatives
in satisfaction with psychiatric services; the great majority of Black and
White patients and relatives conceptualised the patient as mentally
ill, and agreed with the use of compulsory admission
(Mercer, 1986). Similarly,
Leavey et al (1997)
did not find any significant differences between Black and White patients'
levels of satisfaction with care.
Despite overall satisfaction, Blacks were more likely than Whites to see the service as racist (McGovern & Hemmings, 1994). Parkman et al (1997) found that second-generation AfricanCaribbean patients were significantly less satisfied with services when compared with older Caribbean-born AfricanCaribbean and White patients. Importantly, they found that the number of previous admissions significantly predicted dissatisfaction among the AfricanCaribbean group. Thus, it could be that dissatisfaction develops over time.
Negative attitudes to services may be the reason for the delay in presentation with symptoms. This delay may lead to more florid symptomatology than would otherwise be present in AfricanCaribbean patients.
Racism
Racism is an attractive explanation for the increased rates of psychotic
illness in AfricanCaribbeans in the UK. It has effects on their
physical, social and psychological environment
(Williams, 1996). Its effects
cross generations (Laviest,
1993; David & Collins,
1997). It compounds the effects of gender and social class
(Lillie-Blanton & Laviest,
1996). The UK literature is sparse, but in the USA the experience
of racism has been shown to influence the perception of self and of community
(Wallace et al,
1996; Kennedy et al,
1997). Studies have not linked racism aetiologically to psychotic
illness, but thwarted aspirations have been linked to psychological stress
(Parker & Kleiner, 1966)
and the persistent, prolonged struggle and failure to overcome difficulties of
blocked opportunities (John Henryism) has been linked to a
decrease in psychological well-being although not as yet to
operationally defined mental ill-health
(James, 1994). A discrepancy
between occupational status and an ability to maintain the appearances of a
successful lifestyle has been linked to depression in young African Americans,
and a link between internalised racial stereotypes and depression and alcohol
misuse has been described (Neighbors
et al, 1996;
Williams-Morris, 1996).
Racism has community and societal meanings and correlates. At an ecological level, frustration and disillusionment of individuals could lead to alternative economies and lifestyles that undermine the family and are associated with low social cohesion (Kennedy et al, 1997). Reduced social buffers and social disorganisation are linked to poorer mental health (Taylor et al, 1991).
The links between racism, identity and psychological development in children are a current area of interest but associations between these factors and physical and mental illness have yet to be assessed (Taylor et al, 1991).
The effects of discrimination depend on the socio-economic status and coping strategies of the individual (Taylor et al, 1991).
Institutional racism could encompass a number of factors already discussed from the understanding and meaning of psychopathology through to differences in pathways to care. However, its impact on the incidence of psychotic illness remains unclear (McKenzie, 1999).
Problems with social hypotheses
If higher rates of psychosis, why not of neurosis?
A puzzling thing about the social hypotheses that attempt to explain the
excess of psychosis among the AfricanCaribbean community is that many
of the factors suggested are associated, in the general population, with an
increased risk of nonpsychotic disorders such as depression, anxiety and
functional somatic symptoms rather than psychotic disorders
(Goldberg & Huxley, 1992). Yet UK-resident AfricanCaribbean people appear much less likely to
receive a diagnosis of anxiety or depression from their general practitioner
than non-Black attenders (Gillam et
al, 1989).
It could be that background levels of morbidity in these populations differ; other suggestions include the possibility that AfricanCaribbeans seek professional help less often (Rathwell, 1984; Gillam, 1990), and/or general practitioners fail to notice their psychiatric morbidity (Burke, 1984; Nazroo, 1998), possibly due to more frequent somatic presentation for psychological distress (Kleinman, 1980; Leff, 1988). Alternatively, AfricanCaribbean people may not frame their distress in psychological terms because of the accompanying stigma (Rack, 1982), or they may not seek help because having the stresses of living with discrimination redefined as neurotic illness is unacceptable (Lloyd & St Louis, 1992). The results of recent community-based attempts to calculate the rate of neurotic illness in AfricanCaribbeans have been equivocal. The National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey of Great Britain (Jenkins et al, 1997) found no significant difference in the prevalence rates of neurotic illness between AfricanCaribbeans and Whites, but it may have had too small a sample. Nazroo (1997) found a 60% higher prevalence of depression in a community sample of AfricanCaribbeans when compared with Whites, and Shaw et al (1999) also reported a higher prevalence of depression in similar samples although the overall rate of neurotic illness was not elevated.
Why are rates of psychosis not elevated among UK-resident South
Asians?
Some of the socio-economic and cultural factors offered as reasons for the
increased rate of mental illness among AfricanCaribbeans could be
expected to have the same impact on UK-resident South Asian populations, whose
migration to England coincided with the period of AfricanCaribbean
immigration and who are subject to similar discrimination
(Bhugra et al, 1997).
Although there have been isolated studies reporting an increased incidence of
psychosis in Asians living in the UK (King
et al, 1994), the majority view is that rates in the
Asian population are either the same as those of the indigenous White
population or only minimally raised
(Cochrane & Bal, 1987;
Bhugra et al,
1997).
One suggestion has been that exposure to the indigenous British culture with resultant acculturation may result in psychological problems and that an insular lifestyle may protect against such stresses (Westermeyer et al, 1983). Some South Asian groups may, therefore, find protection in their close-knit cultural, religious and family practices. In comparison, AfricanCaribbeans have originated from a more fragmented cultural and religious background (Nettleford, 1972). If this theory were correct, then one would predict that as South Asians assimilate British culture and lose their distinctive religious and cultural practices, higher rates of psychosis should be found in the second and third generations of Asians. There is no evidence of this.
Other arguments cannot be dismissed so readily. Cochrane (1977, 1983) speculates that migration from the Indian subcontinent is a complex and restricted practice that deters all but the most determined and psychologically robust; this would result in lower psychiatric morbidity among Asian migrants. Second, Asians do not suffer from the high rates of unemployment that affect the AfricanCaribbean immigrants (Cochrane, 1977, 1983; Bhugra et al, 1997). Indeed, the improved socio-economic status and upward mobility among the UK-resident South Asian population could act to maintain well-being.
PSYCHOLOGICAL HYPOTHESES
Interpretation of life events
Since adverse life events are known to lead to the emergence of psychotic
symptoms in susceptible individuals
(Bebbington et al,
1993), researchers have wondered whether AfricanCaribbean
residents in the UK might experience an excess of such events. Gilvarry et
al (1999) examined the
frequency of adverse life events experienced by a multi-ethnic series of
patients with chronic psychosis, but reported no difference in the number of
life events experienced by the different ethnic groups.
However, importantly, African and AfricanCaribbean patients were more likely to interpret such events as part of a pattern of continuous adversity experienced by them on account of their ethnicity. For example, individuals would perceive difficulties with their housing as part of a pattern of racial discrimination by the housing authorities. A tendency to attribute such motives to others could be a response to previous discriminatory experiences. In the USA minor daily experiences of racism (micro-aggressions) rather than larger life events have been linked to health status. Such micro-aggressions have not been studied in the UK (Williams, 1996).
Attributional style
The idea that a person's perceptual or attributional style may predispose
that person to schizophrenia has a long history
(Schneider, 1959;
Colby et al, 1979;
Garfield et al, 1987;
Robey et al, 1989),
but has been recently popularised by Bentall and colleagues (Bentall et
al, 1988,
1994;
Kinderman & Bentall,
1996). According to Bentall et al
(1994), individuals
experiencing delusions have an underlying concept of themselves which is
negative. This concept is activated when the individual is subjected to
threatening life events, and in turn results in a discrepancy between the
actual self (i.e. how the person is in reality) and the ideal self (how the
person would like to be). Individuals who have delusions attempt to minimise
this discrepancy by readjusting their concept of themselves so that they
perceive themselves satisfactorily at the expense of perceiving others as
having a negative view of them. As a result, they falsely conclude that
negative events are caused by others (external attribution) rather than
themselves, i.e. others are to blame for the negative things that
happen to me.
Kinderman & Bentall (1996) suggest that the repeated use of such external attributions can lead to the discrepancies between self-perceptions and beliefs about the perceptions of others becoming manifest, in extreme form, as persecutory delusions.
It could be argued that such mechanisms may be more important among AfricanCaribbean residents in England. First, there can be no doubt that there is racial discrimination and therefore it is reasonable for individuals to question whether encountered social adversity is a manifestation of this. Second, poor school achievement (Wing, 1979), more family disruption (Maughan, 1989), high levels of unemployment and relative deprivation (Bhugra et al, 1997) and growing up in a discriminatory society provide fertile ground for problems with self-perception and identity, as users testify (Frederick, 1991). In some, these may work with as yet ill-defined sociocultural factors and with continuing threatening life experiences to produce a greater use of externalising attributions to protect self-esteem. As discussed above, this normative process can result in paranoid ideation. Some support for this speculation comes from a small study of the general population in which Sharpley & Peters (1999) found that protodelusional paranoid and grandiose ideas were more common among AfricanCaribbean subjects compared with Whites.
The importance of attributional style is that it offers a pathway through which discrimination and social adversity may lead to increased diagnosed rates of mental illness. However, it cannot be seen as an explanation for increased rates per se: the reason for the increased rates would be the social situations that foster the need for externalising attributions. The problem is not in individuals or their communities but in the wider social forces acting on those communities.
CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that AfricanCaribbean people resident in England are at higher risk of developing an illness that meets operational criteria for schizophrenia than (a) the populations in their countries of origin in the Caribbean and (b) the White, indigenous population. Hypotheses to date have failed to take account of this finding. However, hallucinations and paranoid ideas conventionally considered as pathognomonic of psychosis may be more common among AfricanCaribbean people than in the remainder of the population in England; this raises the question of whether the threshold for qualifying for a diagnosis of schizophrenia is set lower for the AfricanCaribbean population.
AfricanCaribbean individuals who are diagnosed as having schizophrenia show a greater affective component to their illness than do their White counterparts. Some evidence also suggests that schizophrenia in this population is associated with a more relapsing and remitting course, with more social disruption and fewer negative symptoms than in White patients. This pattern of illness conforms more, in some ways, to schizoaffective psychosis than to chronic schizophrenia. In this context it is particularly interesting that AfricanCaribbean people living in England also suffer an elevated rate of mania. It would be surprising if the increased incidence of these two disorders were not in some way linked.
It is therefore perhaps more accurate not to describe the illness common among AfricanCaribbeans resident in England as classical schizophrenia, but to say that this group experiences an excess of a type of psychosis, which may present phenomenologically as either schizophrenia or mania, but whose classification and pathogenesis are unclear at present. A number of explanatory hypotheses have been put forward, some tested more systematically than others.
While psychosis is generally thought to be partly under genetic influence, the excess in the AfricanCaribbean population cannot be explained exclusively in genetic terms or by the selective migration of individuals who later develop psychosis. The frequency of schizophrenia in the siblings of second-generation patients with schizophrenia implies the operation of environmental factors upon individuals from vulnerable families.
What could these environmental factors be? Neurodevelopmental hazards appear, if anything, to be less common in AfricanCaribbean than in White patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia. The significance of cannabis misuse is not yet resolved, but if it does play an aetiological role, it is likely to be as a contributory rather than a major factor.
Sociocultural factors have been the subject of much untested speculation. More single-parent families, poorer school achievement, high unemployment, more solitary living and less social support among the AfricanCaribbean community have all been blamed, and could contribute to a lower threshold for social disruption. However, social theorists need to explain: (a) why such factors are more commonly associated with neurotic illness in the majority population but not in the AfricanCaribbean population; and (b) why no consistent excess of psychosis has been reported in South Asian residents, who are subject to many of the same social stresses and discrimination as the AfricanCaribbean population.
Bentall and colleagues suggest that paranoia is a defence against poor self-esteem and can, therefore, be regarded as a form of camouflaged depression (Kaney & Bentall, 1992; Kinderman et al, 1992). In their model, it arises from an abnormal attributional style in which the blame for threatening events is continually externalised. Zigler & Glick (1988) contend that mania also provides a means whereby individuals can avoid negative self-evaluations through an exaggerated sense of self-fulfilment.
Some AfricanCaribbean patients with psychosis perceive adverse life events as part of a continuous pattern of adversity directed at them on the basis of their ethnicity. AfricanCaribbean patients may be more at risk of developing this particular style of attribution, because their experience of social disadvantage and racial discrimination in the UK results in: (a) a need to question self-perception and identity; and (b) more threat in their everyday social life. The fact that affective symptoms are more commonly found among AfricanCaribbean than White patients with psychosis is compatible with the idea that such paranoid attributions are being employed as a defence against depression and negative self-evaluation.
It is important to ascertain the causes of the high incidence of psychosis among AfricanCaribbean people living in England because it represents a considerable burden on an already deprived population. If we could understand the factors that drive this high incidence of psychosis, then we might be able to initiate preventative measures. Furthermore, we might also learn more about the aetiology of psychosis in general. Already the preliminary findings are intriguing in that they point towards social and cognitive factors, areas of research into psychosis that have been neglected in recent years.
REFERENCES
Adebimpe, V. R., Klein, H. E. & Fried, J. (1981) Hallucination and delusions in black psychiatric patients. Journal of the National Medical Association, 73, 517-520.[Medline]
Adebimpe, V. R., Chu, C. C., Klein, H. E., et al (1982) Racial and geographic differences in the psychopathology of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 888-891.[Abstract]
al-Issa, I. (1995) The illusion of reality or the reality of illusion. Hallucinations and culture. British Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 368-373.[Abstract]
Andreasson, S., Allebeck, P. & Engstrom, A. (1987) Cannabis and schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of Swedish conscripts. Lancet, ii, 1483-1485.
Bebbington, P. E., Hurry, J. & Tennant, C. (1981) Psychotic disorders in selected immigrant groups in Camberwell. Social Psychiatry, 16, 43-51.
Bebbington, P. E., Wilkins, S., Jones, P., et al (1993) Life events and psychosis. Initial results from the Camberwell Psychosis Study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 72-79.[Abstract]
Bentall, R. P., Jackson, H. F. & Ilgrim, D. (1988) Abandoning the concept of schizophrenia: some implications of validity arguments for psychological research into psychotic phenomena. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27, 303-324.[Medline]
Bentall, R. P., Kinderman, P. & Kaney, S. (1994) The self, attributional processes and abnormal beliefs: towards a model of persecutory delusions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 331-341.[CrossRef][Medline]
Bhugra, D., Hilwig, M., Hossein, B., et al (1996) First-contact incidence rates of schizophrenia in Trinidad and one-year follow-up. British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 587-592.[Abstract]
Bhugra, D., Leff, J., Mallet, R., et al (1997) Incidence and outcome of schizophrenia in whites, AfricanCaribbeans and Asians in London. Psychological Medicine, 27, 791-798.[CrossRef][Medline]
Birchwood, M., Cochrane, R., MacMillan, F., et al (1992) The influence of ethnicity and family structure on relapse in first-episode schizophrenia. A comparison of Asian, Afro-Caribbean and white patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 783-790.[Abstract]
Brown, G. W. & Prudo, R. (1981) Psychiatric disorder in a rural and an urban population. I. Aetiology of depression. Psychological Medicine, 11, 581-599.[Medline]
Burke, A. (1984) Racism and psychiatric disturbance among West Indians in Britain. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 30, 50-68.[Medline]
Burnett, R., Mallett, R., Bhugra, D., et al (1999) The first contact of patients with schizophrenia with psychiatric services: social factors and pathways to care in a multi-ethnic population. Psychological Medicine, 11, 581-599.
Callan, A. & Littlewood, R. (1998) Patient satisfaction: ethnic origin or explanatory model? International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 44, 1-11.[Medline]
Canadian Taskforce on Mental Health Issues (1988) After the Door Has Opened. Ottawa: Ministry of Supply and Services.
Castle, D., Wessely, S., Der, G., et al (1991) The incidence of operationally defined schizophrenia in Camberwell, 1965-1984. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 790-794.[Abstract]
Castle, D., Scott, K. & Wessely, S. (1993) Does social deprivation during gestation and early life predispose to later schizophrenia? Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 28, 1-4.[Medline]
Castle, D., Wessely, S., Van Os, J., et al (1998) Psychosis in the Inner City: The Camberwell First Episode Study. Maudsley Monograph. Hove: Psychology Press.
Cheng, A. T. A. & Chang, J. C. (1999) Mental health aspects of culture and migration (editorial review). Current Opinions in Psychiatry, 12, 217-222.[CrossRef]
Cochrane, R. (1977) Mental illness in immigrants to England and Wales: an analysis of mental hospital admission 1971. Social Psychiatry, 12, 25-35.
Cochrane, R. (1983) The Social Creation of Mental Illness. London: Longman.
Cochrane, R. & Bal, S. S. (1987) Migration and schizophrenia: an examination of five hypotheses. Social Psychiatry, 22, 181-191.[Medline]
Cochrane, R. & Bal, S. S. (1989) Mental hospital admission rates of immigrants to England. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 2-11.[Medline]
Colby, K. M., Fraught, W. S. & Parkinson, R. C. (1979) Cognitive therapy of paranoid conditions: heuristic suggestions based on a computer simulation model. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 3, 55-60.
Cole, E., Leavey, G., King, M., et al (1995) Pathways to care for patients with a first episode of psychosis. A comparison of ethnic groups. British Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 770-776.[Abstract]
Cox, J. L. (1977) Aspects of transcultural psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 211-221.[Medline]
Cruickshank, J. & Beevers, D. (1989) Ethnic Factors in Health and Disease. Sevenoaks: Wright.
David, R. & Collins, J. W. Jr (1997)
Differing birth weight among infants born of US born blacks, African born
blacks and US born whites. New England Journal of
Medicine, 337,
1209-1214.
Davies, N., Russel, A., Jones, P., et al (1998) Which characteristics of schizophrenia predate psychosis? Journal of Psychiatric Research, 32, 121-131.[CrossRef][Medline]
Davies, S., Thornicroft, G., Leese, M., et al
(1996) Ethnic differences in risk of compulsory psychiatric
admission among representative cases of psychosis in London.
British Medical Journal,
312,
533-537.
Dean, G., Walsh, D., Downing, H., et al (1981) First admission of native born and immigrants to psychiatric hospitals in South-East England 1976. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 506-512.[Abstract]
Dekker, J., Peen, J., Gardien, R., et al (1997) Urbanisation and psychiatric admission rates in the Netherlands. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 43, 235-246.[Medline]
Dunn, J. & Fahy, T. A. (1990) Police admissions to a psychiatric hospital. Demographic and clinical differences between ethnic groups. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 373-378.[Abstract]
Frederick, J. (1991) Positive Thinking for Mental Health. London: The Black Mental Health Group.
Freeman, H. (1994) Schizophrenia and city residence. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164 (suppl. 23), 39-50.
Garfield, D. A., Rogoff, M. L. & Steinberg, S. (1987) Affect recognition and self-esteem in schizophrenia. Psychopathology, 20, 225-233.[Medline]
Geddes, J. R. & Lawrie, S. M. (1995) Obstetric complications and schizophrenia: a meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 786-793.[Abstract]
Ghodse, H. (1986) Cannabis psychosis. British Journal of Addiction, 81, 473-478.[Medline]
Giggs, J. A. & Cooper, J. E. (1987) Ecological structure and the distribution of schizophrenia and affective psychoses in Nottingham. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 627-633.[Abstract]
Gillam, S. (1990) Ethnicity and the use of health services. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 66, 989-993.[Medline]
Gillam, S., Jarman, B., White, P., et al (1989) Ethnic differences in consultant rates in urban general practice. British Medical Journal, 299, 953-958.[Medline]
Gilvarry, C., Walsh, E., Samele, C., et al (1999) Life events and perceptions of racism in a sample of community care patients with psychotic illnesses. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 49-56.
Glover, G. R. (1989) The pattern of psychiatric admission of Caribbean-born immigrants in London. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 49-56.[Medline]
Goldberg, G. D. & Huxley, P. (1992) Common Mental Disorders. A Biosocial Model. London: Routledge.
Harrison, G., Owens, D., Holton, A., et al (1988) A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients. Psychological Medicine, 18, 643-657.[Medline]
Harrison, G., Holton, A., Nielson, D., et al (1989) Severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients: some social, demographic and service factors. Psychological Medicine, 19, 683-696.[Medline]
Harrison, G., (1990) Searching for the causes of schizophrenia: the role of migrant studies. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 16, 663-671.[Medline]
Harrison, G., Amin, S., Singh, S. P., et al (1999) Outcome of psychosis in people of AfricanCaribbean family origin. Population-based first-episode study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 43-49.[Abstract]
Harvey, I., Williams, M., McGuffin, P., et al (1990) The functional psychoses in Afro-Caribbeans. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 515-522.[Abstract]
Hemsi, L. K. (1967) Psychotic morbidity of West Indian immigrants. Social Psychiatry, 2, 95-100.
Hickling, F. W. & Rodgers-Johnson, P. (1995) The incidence of first-contact schizophrenia in Jamaica. British Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 193-196.[Abstract]
Hickling, F. W., & McKenzie, K., Mullen, R., et al (1999) A Jamaican psychiatrist evaluates diagnosis at a London psychiatric hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 283-285.[Abstract]
Hunt, N., Adams, S., Coxhead, N., et al (1993) The incidence of mania in two areas in the United Kingdom. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 28, 281-284.[Medline]
Hutchinson, J., Takei, N., Fahy, T. A., et al (1996) Morbid risk of schizophrenia in first-degree relatives of white and AfricanCaribbean patients with psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 776-780.[Abstract]
Hutchinson, J., Takei, Bhugra, D., et al (1997) Increased rate of psychosis among AfricanCaribbeans in Britain is not due to an excess of pregnancy and birth complications. British Journal of Psychiatry, 171, 145-147.[Abstract]
Hutchinson, J., Takei, Sham, P., et al (1999) Factors analysis of symptoms in schizophrenia: differences between white and Caribbean patients. Psychological Medicine, 29, 607-612.[CrossRef][Medline]
Hutchinson, J., Takei, Sham, P., et al (2001) Racial differences in symptom presentation among psychotic patients in South London. Schizophrenia Research, in press.
Ineichen, B., Harrison, G. & Morgan, H. G. (1984) Psychiatric admissions in Bristol. I. Geographical and ethnic factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 600-604.[Abstract]
Jablensky, A. (1988) Schizophrenia and environment. In Handbook of Social Psychiatry (eds A. S. Henderson & G. D. Burrows). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
James, A. (1994) John Henryism and the health of African-Americans. Culture Medicine and Psychiatry, 18, 163-182.
Jenkins, R., Lewis, G., Bebbinton, P., et al (1997) The National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys of Great Britain initial findings from the household survey. Psychological Medicine, 27, 775-789.[CrossRef][Medline]
Johns, L. C., Nazroo, J. Y., Bebbington, P., et al (1998) Occurrence of hallucinations in a community sample. Schizophrenia Research, 29, 23.
Jones, P., Rodgers, B. & Murray, R. M. (1994) Child developmental risk factors for schizophrenia in the British 1946 cohort. Lancet, 344, 1398-1402.[Medline]
Kaney, S. & Bentall, R. P. (1992) Persecutory delusions and the self-serving bias: evidence from a contingency judgement task. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 773-780.[Medline]
Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B. P., Lochner, K., et al (1997) Social capital, income inequality and mortality. American Journal of Public Health, 50, 245-251.
Kennedy, B., Kawachi, I., Jones, C., et al (1997) Disrespect and black mortality. Ethnicity and Disease, 7, 207-214.[Medline]
Kiev, A. (1965) Psychiatric morbidity of West Indian immigrants in an urban group practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 51-56.
Kinderman, P., Kaney, S., Morley, S., et al (1992) Paranoia and the defensive attributional style: deluded and depressed patients' attributions about their own attributions. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 65, 371-383.[Medline]
Kinderman, P., & Bentall, R. P. (1996) Self-discrepancies and persecutory delusions: evidence for a model of paranoid ideation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 106-113.[CrossRef][Medline]
King, M., Coker, E., Leavey, G., et al
(1994) Incidence of psychotic illness in London: comparison
of ethnic minority groups. British Medical Journal,
309,
1115-1119.
Kirov, G. & Murray, R. M. (1999) Ethnic differences in the presentation of bipolar affective disorder. European Psychiatry, 14, 199-204.[CrossRef][Medline]
Kleinman, A. (1980) Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture, pp. 138-145. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Laviest, T. (1993) Segregation, Poverty, Empowerment, Health Consequences for African-Americans. New York: Milbank Memorial Fund 1.1.
Lawson, W. B., Yesavage, J. A. & Werner, P. D. (1984) Race, violence and psychopathology. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 45, 294-297.
Leavy, G., King, M., Cole, E., et al (1997) First-onset psychotic illness: patients' and relatives' satisfaction with services. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 53-57.[Abstract]
Leff, J., Fisher, M. & Bertelsen, A. (1976) A cross-national epidemiological study of mania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 428-442.[Abstract]
Leff, J., (1988) Psychiatry Around the Globe. A Transcultural View, 2nd edn. London: Gaskell.
Lewis, G., Croft-Jeffreys, C. & David, A. (1990) Are British psychiatrists racist? British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 410-415.[Abstract]
Lewis, G., David, A., Andreasson, S., et al (1992) Schizophrenia and city life. Lancet, 340, 137-140.[CrossRef][Medline]
Lillie-Blanton, M. & Laviest, T. (1996) Race, ethnicity, the social environment and health. Social Science and Medicine, 43, 83-91.[CrossRef][Medline]
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1981) Some social and phenomenological characteristics of psychotic immigrants. Psychological Medicine, 11, 289-302.[Medline]
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1982) Aliens and Alienists. London: Penguin.
Littlewood, R. (1998) The Butterfly and the Serpent: Essays in Psychiatry and Religion. New York: Free Association Books.
Lloyd, K. & St Louis, L. (1992) Schizophrenia among Afro-Caribbeans. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 712.
Lomas, J. (1998) Social capital and health: implications for public health and epidemiology. Social Science and Medicine, 47, 1181-1188.[CrossRef][Medline]
Maden, T. (1999) Forensic psychiatry. In Ethnicity: An Agenda for Mental Health (eds D. Bhugra & V. Bahl), pp. 151-157. London: Gaskell.
Magaziner, J. (1988) Living density and psychopathology: a re-examination of the negative model. Psychological Medicine, 18, 419-431.[Medline]
Mahy, G. E., Mallett, R., Leff, J., et al (1999) First-contact incidence-rate of schizophrenia on Barbados. British Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 28-33.[Abstract]
Marcellis, M., Maclver, S. & Soomans, A. (1998) Area, class and health: should we be focusing on places or people? Journal of Social Policy, 22, 213-234.
Maughan, B. (1989) Growing up in the inner city. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 3, 195-215.[Medline]
McGovern, D. & Cope, R. (1987) First psychotic admission rates of first- and second-generation AfricanCaribbeans. Social Psychiatry, 22, 139-149.[Medline]
McGovern, D. & Cope, R. (1991) Second-generation AfricanCaribbeans and young whites with a first-admission diagnosis of schizophrenia. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 26, 95-99.[Medline]
McGovern, D. & Hemmings, P. (1994) A follow-up of second generation Afro-Caribbeans and white British with a first admission diagnosis of schizophrenia: attitudes to mental illness and psychiatric services of patients and relatives. Social Science and Medicine, 38, 117-128.[Medline]
McGovern, D., Hemmings, P., Cope, R., et al (1994) Long term follow-up of young Afro-Caribbean Britons and Britons with a first admission diagnosis of schizophrenia. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 29, 8-19.[Medline]
McGrath, J. & Murray, R. M. (1995) Risk factors for schizophrenia: from conception to birth. In Schizophrenia (eds S. Hirsch & D. Weinberger), pp. 187-205. Oxford: Blackwell.
McGuire, P. K., Jones, P., Harvey, L., et al (1994) Cannabis and acute psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 13, 161-168.[CrossRef][Medline]
McGuire, P. K., Jones, P., Harvey, L., et al (1995) Morbid risk of schizophrenia for relatives of patients with cannabis-associated psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 15, 277-281.[CrossRef][Medline]
McKenzie, K. (1999) Moving the misdiagnosis debate forward. International Review of Psychiatry, 11, 153-161.[CrossRef]
McKenzie, K. & Murray, R. M. (1999) Risk factors for psychosis in the UK AfricanCaribbean population. In Ethnicity: An Agenda for Mental Health (eds D. Bhugra & V. Bahl), pp. 48-59. London: Gaskell.
McKenzie, K., van Os, J., Fahy, T. A., et al
(1995) Psychosis with good prognosis in Afro-Caribbean people
now living in the United Kingdom. British Medical
Journal, 311,
1325-1328.
Mednick, S. A., Machon, R. A., Huttenen, M. O., et al (1988) Adult schizophrenia following prenatal exposure to an influenza epidemic. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 875-876.
Mercer, K. (1986) Racism and transcultural psychiatry. In The Power of Psychiatry, (eds P. Miller & N. Rose). Cambridge: Polity.
Mukherjee, S., Shukla, S., Woodle, J., et al (1983) Misdiagnosis of schizophrenia in bipolar patients: a multiethnic comparison. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1571-1572.[Abstract]
Murray, R. & Hutchinson, G. (1999) Psychosis in migrants: the striking example of AfricanCaribbeans resident in England. In Causes of Schizophrenia (eds I. Gattaz & H. Hafner). Darmstadt: Steinkopf.
Nazroo, J. (1997) Ethnicity and Mental Health. London: Policy Studies Institute.
Nazroo, J. (1998) Rethinking the relationship between ethnicity and mental health: the British Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 33, 145-148.[CrossRef][Medline]
Ndetei, D. M. & Vadher, A. (1985) A comparative cross-cultural study of the frequencies of hallucination in schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 70, 545-549.
Neighbors, H. W., Jackson, J. S., Broman, C., et al (1996) Racism and the mental health of African-Americans: the role of self and system blame. Ethnicity and Disease, 6, 167-175.[Medline]
Nettleford, R. M. (1972) Identity, Race and Protest in Jamaica. New York: William Morrow.
Nicoll, A. & Logan, S. (1989) Viral infections of pregnancy in childhood. In Ethnic Factors in Health and Disease (eds J. Cruikshank & D. Beevers), pp. 95-102. London: Wright.
O'Callaghan, E., Sham, P., Takei, N., et al (1991) Schizophrenia after exposure to 1957 A2 influenza epidemic. Lancet, 337, 1248-1250.[CrossRef][Medline]
Odegaard, O. (1932) Emigration and insanity: a study of mental disease among Norwegian-born population in Minnesota. Acta Psychiatrica et Neurologica Scandinavica, 7 (suppl. 4), 1-206.
Owens, D., Harrison, G. & Boot, D. (1991) Ethnic factors in voluntary and compulsory admissions. Psychological Medicine, 21, 185-196.[Medline]
Parker, S. & Kleiner, R. (1966) Mental Illness in the Urban Negro Community. New York: Free Press.
Parkman, S., Davies, S., Leese, M., et al (1997) Ethnic differences in satisfaction with mental health services among representative people with psychosis in south London: PRiSM Study 4. British Journal of Psychiatry, 171, 260-264.[Abstract]
Parsons, C. (1963) West Indian children with multiple congenital defects. Archives of Diseases in Childhood, 38, 454-458.
Patrick, D. L. & Wickizer, T. M. (1995) Community and health. In Society and Health (eds B. C. Amick, S. Levine, A. R. Tarlov & C. D. Walsh). New York: Oxford University Press.
Pipe, R., Bhat, A., Matthews, B., et al (1991) Section 136 and African/Afro-Caribbean minorities. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 37, 14-23.[Medline]
Putnam, R. D. (1995) Bowling alone. America's declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6, 65-78.
Rack, P. (1982) Race, Culture and Mental Disorder, pp. 101-112. London: Tavistock.
Rathwell, T. (1984) General practice, ethnicity and health service delivery. Social Science and Medicine, 19, 123-130.[CrossRef][Medline]
Robey, K. L., Cohen, B. D. & Gara, M. A. (1989) Self-structure in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98, 436-442.[CrossRef][Medline]
Rogers, A. & Faulkner, A. (1987) A Place of Safety. London: Mind.
Rwegellera, G. G. C. (1980) Differential use of psychiatric services by West Indians, West Africans and English in London. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 428-432.[Abstract]
Sashidharan, S. P. (1993) Afro-Caribbeans and schizophrenia: the ethnic vulnerability hypothesis re-examined. International Review of Psychiatry, 5, 129-144.
Schneider, K. (1959) Clinical Psychopathology. New York: Grune & Stratton.
Selten, J. P. & Sijben, N. (1994) First admission rates for schizophrenia in immigrants to the Netherlands. The Dutch National Register. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 29, 71-77.[Medline]
Selten, J. P., Slaets, J. P. J. & Kahn, R. S. (1997) Schizophrenia in Surinamese and Dutch Antillean immigrants to The Netherlands: evidence of an increased incidence. Psychological Medicine, 27, 807-811.[CrossRef][Medline]
Sharpley, M. S. & Peters, E. (1999) Ethnicity, class and schizotypy. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 34, 507-512.[CrossRef][Medline]
Shaw, C. M., Creed, F., Tomenson, B., et al
(1999) Prevalence of anxiety and depressive illness and help
seeking behaviour in African Caribbeans and white Europeans: two phase general
population survey. British Medical Journal,
318,
302-306.
Sugarman, P. A. (1992) Outcome of schizophrenia in the Afro-Caribbean community. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 27, 102-105.[Medline]
Sugarman, P. A. & Craufurd, D. (1994) Schizophrenia in the Afro-Caribbean community. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 474-480.[Abstract]
Takei, N., O'Callaghan, E. & Sham, P. (1992) Winter birth excess in schizophrenia: its relationship to place of birth. Schizophrenia Research, 6 (special issue), 102.
Takei, N., Persaud, R., Woodruff, P., et al (1998) First episodes of psychosis in Afro-Caribbean and White people. An 18-year follow-up population-based study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 172, 147-153.[Abstract]
Thakker, J. & Ward, T. (1998) Culture and classification: the cross-cultural application of DSMIV. Clinical Psychology Review, 18, 501-529.[CrossRef][Medline]
Taylor, J., Henderson, D. & Jackson, B. B. (1991) A holistic model for understanding and predicting depressive symptoms in African-American women. Journal of Community Psychology, 19, 306-320.
Thomas, C. S., Stone, K., Osborn, M., et al (1993) Psychiatric morbidity and compulsory admission among UK-born Europeans, Afro-Caribbeans and Asians in central Manchester. British Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 91-99.[Abstract]
Thornicroft, G. (1990) Cannabis and psychosis. Is there epidemiological evidence for association? British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 25-33.[Abstract]
Torrey, E. F. & Bowler, A. (1991) Geographical distribution of insanity in America: evidence for an urban factor. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 16, 591-604.
Treffert, D. (1978) Marijuana use in schizophrenia: a clear hazard. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 1213-1215.[Abstract]
Turner, W. M. & Tsuang, M. T. (1990) Impact of substance abuse on the course of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 16, 87-95.[Medline]
Tyrer, S. P. (1982) Mania: diagnosis and treatment. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 28, 67-73.[Medline]
van Os, J., Castle, D. J., Takei, N., et al (1996a) Psychotic illness in ethnic minorities: clarification from the 1991 Census. Psychological Medicine, 26, 203-208.[Medline]
van Os, J., Takei, N., Castle, D. J., et al (1996b) The incidence of mania: time trends in relation to gender and ethnicity. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 31, 129-136.[Medline]
Wallace, R., Thompson Fullilove, M. & Fisher, A. J. (1996) AIDS, violence and behavioral coding: information theory, risk behavior and dynamic process on core-group sociogeographic networks. Social Science and Medicine, 43, 339-352.[CrossRef][Medline]
Wessely, S., Castle, D., Der, G., et al (1991) Schizophrenia and Afro-Caribbeans. A casecontrol study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 795-801.[Abstract]
Westermeyer, J., Vang, T. F. & Neider, J. (1983) Migration and mental health among refugees. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 92-96.[Medline]
Williams, D. (1996) Racism and health: a research agenda. Ethnicity and Disease, 6, 1-6.[Medline]
Williams-Morris, R. S. (1996) Racism and children's health: issues in development. Ethnicity and Disease, 6, 69-81.[Medline]
Wing, J. K. (1979) Mentally retarded children in Camberwell, London. In Estimating Needs for Mental Health Care (ed. H. Hafner), pp. 77-91. New York: Springer.
Wing, J. K. (1989) The concept of negative symptoms. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155 (suppl. 7), 10-14.
Zigler, E. & Glick, M. (1988) Is paranoid schizophrenia really camouflaged depression? American Psychologist, 43, 284-290.[CrossRef][Medline]