Personality Disorders and Culture: Clinical and Conceptual Interactions

What role do cultures play in the development

Can behavior that is normative in one culture be mistaken for a personality disorder in another?

Can an entire culture be said to suffer from a personality disorder?

Personality Disorders and Culture explores these questions and many more. It reviews the worldwide literature on the subject and covers all aspects of the links between culture and personality disorder. Stressing the importance of cultural awareness for mental health professionals in multicultural societies, this groundbreaking book sets forth a dimensional model of the ways in which a cultural perspective can inform our understanding of personality development and personality disorders. The authors assess the cultural foundations of the pathogenesis of these disorders and identify social and cultural practices that contribute to the development of personality styles.

Interpreting concrete information on personality disorders, this book presents findings on the epidemiology of personality disorders in different clinical settings and evaluates them critically from the cultural perspective. It also analyzes cross-national comparisons and discusses cultural influences and their decisive role in the diagnosis and classification of personality disorders.

Finally, Personality Disorders and Culture examines the role of culture in interpreting and explaining behaviors that resemble personality disorders but are, instead, normative to a given culture. It also reveals how culture can be used to devise effective therapeutic interventions at individual and group levels in a variety of settings and explains why cultural concepts and practices should be an integral component of and can have a powerful positive effect on the structure, delivery, and management of care systems for personality disorders.

For clinicians, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding personality from a cultural perspective, Personality Disorders and Culture is an indispensable resource. It is also an excellent textbook for graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses in anthropology, psychology, sociology, diagnosis, and clinical treatment.

Acclaim for Personality Disorders and Culture

"Expanding on its origins with profound innovations, Personality Disorders and Culture is a much awaited treatment of a subject that has held center stage in our field for decades. Written with verve and insight, I found I could not put the book down. It has brought the subject alive...and will serve as a stimulating text for graduate students and residents equally in this day of multicultural studies." ?Theodore Millon, PhD, Dean and Director, Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychotherapy

"A groundbreaking contribution, this book gives us the first comprehensive analysis of the effects of culture on personality and significantly advances the field. I strongly recommend Personality Disorders and Culture." ?Lillian Comas-D?az, PhD, Director, Transcultural Mental Health Institute, Editor, Cultural Diversity and Mental Health

"Ever since the DSM-III in 1980 presented the Axis structure for mental disorders, there has been a critical need to develop the Axis II disorders. The authors of this interesting volume, oriented toward cultural concepts and research, have brought some of the most advanced ideas to bear on personality disorders. The book is instructive and deserves thoughtful consideration." ?Lloyd R. Rogler, PhD, Albert Schweitzer University, Professor Fordham University

"Personality Disorders and Culture is an excellent contribution to the field. It offers new and unique perspectives on the treatment of personality disorders within a cultural framework. This book is an invaluable clinical resource for mental health professionals." ?Pedro Ru?z, MD, Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, The University of Texas, Houston

"An unusually fine integration of disciplinary perspectives inc

RENATO D. ALARCON, MD, is Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, and Chief, Mental Health Service Line, VA Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Alarcon is the author of more than 150 articles and coauthor of five books and several dozen book chapters. A Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and former president of the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry, he is coeditor of the standard psychiatric textbook in Latin America and of the three-volume Ibero-American Encyclopedia of Psychiatry.

EDWARD F. FOULKS, PhD, MDCM, is Polchow-Sellars Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Graduate Medical Education, Tulane University School of Medicine. A psychiatrist, anthropologist, and a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, he is coauthor, with S. Klausner, of Eskimo Capitalists: Oil, Politics, and Alcohol, among many publications. He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania.

MARK VAKKUR, MD, is a staff psychiatrist at the VA Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and an Assistant Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, where he is co-coordinator of the human behavior course. He also serves as Site Director in charge of resident and medical school education at the VA Medical Center. A published novelist, he obtained his MD and completed his psychiatry residency at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.