Conference proceedings – INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON TRANSCULTURAL PSYCHIATRY APRIL 2002, COVENTRY, UK.

by: Dr Afzal Javed, Nuneaton.

The Midlands Psychiatric Research Group organised its annual International conference on Transcultural Psychiatry in Coventry, in April 2002. It was attended by more than one hundred psychiatrists and mental health professionals from all over UK and abroad.

The first session was on “Recent advances in the treatment of schizophrenia” by Prof. R. Mohan, comparing the atypical with the conventional antipsychotic drugs. A plenary session on “Transcultural Psychiatry: Historical perspectives” was hosted by Prof. Bartocci (Italy), Chairman of the Transcultural Psychiatry Section of World Psychiatric Association (WPA). Prof. Ronald Littlewood (University College of London) reviewed the development of cultural psychiatry in the field of mental health. He outlined recent developments and achievements. Dr Sushrut Jadhav (London) described the global trends in clinical and research areas. Dr Pichet Udomratn’s (Thailand) interesting comparative study described the changing attitudes and perceptions of patients about their doctors. Dr S P Singh (London) described the limitations of terms such as ethnicity and culture. Dr Antti Pakaslathi (Finland) discussed the importance of faith healing as a therapeutic process and suggested possible future directions. Prof. Arshad Hussain (USA) described psychiatric dimensions of disaster and terrorism in the current global situation. Sue Salas (London) reviewed the work of an innovative project training mental health professionals in South Camden in Islam and Mental Health.

Prof. John Cox, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists outlined the College’s efforts in promoting the needs and services for ethnic minority patients in UK and training mental health professionals in this area. He advocated the provision of resources to promote cultural psychiatry in the future. A special session was held on “Religion, Culture and Mental Health” in collaboration with the Transcultural Psychiatry Section of WPA and World Islamic Association for Mental Health. Prof. Bartocci discussed the role of religion and its association with mental health phenomenon. Referring to the works of renowned scholars, he emphasised the importance of making the distinction between religious feelings, commitments and practices from mental illness. Prof. Arshad Hussain described his work in trauma recovery in Bosnians using philosophy and the teachings of Islam. Dr Simon Dein (London) explained the role of religion in dealing with psychosocial problems with examples from the Jewish religion. Dr Ahmad El-Azayem (Egypt) advocated the use of Islamic teachings to manage different dimensions of conflict, anger and violence.

Source: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/college/sig/tsigNwSum03.pdf