Post by Admin on Mar 5, 2022 18:11:59 GMT
Addressing Cultural Bias in the Treatment of Personality Disorders
Without consideration of cultural factors, personality disorder assessment remains inaccurate for migrant and ethnically marginalized groups.
By Álvaro Gamio Cuervo -March 4, 2022
www.madinamerica.com/2022/03/addressing-cultural-bias-treatment-personality-disorders/
A recent study, published in Transcultural Psychiatry, examined how personality disorders (PDs) are incorrectly diagnosed or completely overlooked within migrant and ethnically marginalized groups. To improve the assessment of PDs, the authors presented a new culturally-informed framework that focuses on the connection between PDs, migratory processes, and cultural factors.
The results shine a light on the limitations of psychiatry to accurately diagnose and provide treatment for migrant populations without a culturally-informed approach that considers broader socio-cultural and political factors. The study was led by Ardalan Najjarkakhaki, a psychologist and researcher affiliated with the Department of Intercultural Psychiatry at the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute. The authors write:
“An approach that places the person in a socio-cultural context can guide clinicians to assess PDs in a more contextually grounded way, rather than locating the patient’s problems entirely within the individual. A contextual perspective on PDs should include an assessment of temperament/ character, developmental history, systemic/family dynamics, migration processes, cultural dimensions, and possible historical trauma.”
The role of migration processes and cultural factors in the classification of personality disorders
September 2021Transcultural Psychiatry
DOI:10.1177/13634615211036408
www.researchgate.net/publication/354856660_The_role_of_migration_processes_and_cultural_factors_in_the_classification_of_personality_disorders
Abstract and Figures
Migrants and ethnic minorities are at risk of being under- and overdiagnosed with personality disorders (PDs). A culturally informed approach to the classification of PDs guides clinicians in incorporating migration processes and cultural factors, to arrive at a reliable and valid assessment of personality pathology. In this article, we provide a tentative framework to highlight specific interactions between personality disorders, migration processes, and cultural factors. It is argued that migration processes can merely resemble personality pathology, activate certain (latent) vulnerabilities, and aggravate pre-existing personality pathology. We propose that these migration processes can include manifestations of grief about the loss of pre-migratory psychosocial and economic resources, and the struggle to attain psychosocial and economic resources in the host culture. Moreover, several cultural dimensions are outlined that can either resemble or mask personality pathology. The term “culturally masked personality disorder” is coined, to delineate clinical cases in which cultural factors are overused or misused to rationalize behavioral patterns that are consistently inflexible, distressing, or harmful to the individual and/or significant others, lead to significant impairment, and exceed the relevant cultural norms. Additionally, the role of historical trauma is addressed in the context of potential overdiagnosis of personality disorders in Indigenous persons, and the implications of misdiagnosis in migrants, ethnic minorities, and Indigenous populations are elaborated. Finally, clinical implications are discussed, outlining various diagnostic steps, including an assessment of temperament/character, developmental history, systemic/family dynamics, migration processes, cultural dimensions, and possible historical trauma.
Without consideration of cultural factors, personality disorder assessment remains inaccurate for migrant and ethnically marginalized groups.
By Álvaro Gamio Cuervo -March 4, 2022
www.madinamerica.com/2022/03/addressing-cultural-bias-treatment-personality-disorders/
A recent study, published in Transcultural Psychiatry, examined how personality disorders (PDs) are incorrectly diagnosed or completely overlooked within migrant and ethnically marginalized groups. To improve the assessment of PDs, the authors presented a new culturally-informed framework that focuses on the connection between PDs, migratory processes, and cultural factors.
The results shine a light on the limitations of psychiatry to accurately diagnose and provide treatment for migrant populations without a culturally-informed approach that considers broader socio-cultural and political factors. The study was led by Ardalan Najjarkakhaki, a psychologist and researcher affiliated with the Department of Intercultural Psychiatry at the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute. The authors write:
“An approach that places the person in a socio-cultural context can guide clinicians to assess PDs in a more contextually grounded way, rather than locating the patient’s problems entirely within the individual. A contextual perspective on PDs should include an assessment of temperament/ character, developmental history, systemic/family dynamics, migration processes, cultural dimensions, and possible historical trauma.”
The role of migration processes and cultural factors in the classification of personality disorders
September 2021Transcultural Psychiatry
DOI:10.1177/13634615211036408
www.researchgate.net/publication/354856660_The_role_of_migration_processes_and_cultural_factors_in_the_classification_of_personality_disorders
Abstract and Figures
Migrants and ethnic minorities are at risk of being under- and overdiagnosed with personality disorders (PDs). A culturally informed approach to the classification of PDs guides clinicians in incorporating migration processes and cultural factors, to arrive at a reliable and valid assessment of personality pathology. In this article, we provide a tentative framework to highlight specific interactions between personality disorders, migration processes, and cultural factors. It is argued that migration processes can merely resemble personality pathology, activate certain (latent) vulnerabilities, and aggravate pre-existing personality pathology. We propose that these migration processes can include manifestations of grief about the loss of pre-migratory psychosocial and economic resources, and the struggle to attain psychosocial and economic resources in the host culture. Moreover, several cultural dimensions are outlined that can either resemble or mask personality pathology. The term “culturally masked personality disorder” is coined, to delineate clinical cases in which cultural factors are overused or misused to rationalize behavioral patterns that are consistently inflexible, distressing, or harmful to the individual and/or significant others, lead to significant impairment, and exceed the relevant cultural norms. Additionally, the role of historical trauma is addressed in the context of potential overdiagnosis of personality disorders in Indigenous persons, and the implications of misdiagnosis in migrants, ethnic minorities, and Indigenous populations are elaborated. Finally, clinical implications are discussed, outlining various diagnostic steps, including an assessment of temperament/character, developmental history, systemic/family dynamics, migration processes, cultural dimensions, and possible historical trauma.