BackgroundBackground Inthe UK,6% ofthose Inthe UK,6% ofthose aged 65 years and over were born abroad, aged 65 years and over were born abroad, mostofwhomnowliveininner-cityareas.It mostofwhomnowliveininner-cityareas.It hasbeen suggestedthatethnicelders are hasbeen suggestedthatethnicelders are particularly vulnerableto mentalillness. particularly vulnerableto mentalillness. Aims Aims To compare the prevalence ofTo compare the prevalence of dementia and depressionin older migrants dementia and depressionin older migrants withthose born in the UK. with those born in the UK. MethodMethod A cross-sectional community A cross-sectional community study of1085 people aged 65 years study of1085 people aged 65 years or older in an inner-London borough. or older in an inner-London borough.

BackgroundNumbers of immigrant elders are increasing and it is unclear whether they can access services.AimsTo examine service utilisation of older immigrants compared with their UK-born counterparts and relate it to health difficulties.MethodCross-sectional study in inner London measuring service use, mental health and disability.ResultsA total of 1085 people aged ⩾65 years were interviewed. Independent predictors of contact with a general practitioner included being born in Cyprus. Cypriots were the only immigrant population to report significantly more somatic symptoms than those born in the UK (P=0.005). Africans and Caribbeans used daycare and other social services most frequently.ConclusionsImmigrants could access services. Africans and Caribbeans appear to have poorer physical health and thus have greater contact with services. Cypriots who experience depression may present with prominent somatic symptoms. This is likely to be due to a different idiom of distress.

More than a quarter of a million people left Ireland for Britain in the 1940s and 1950s.The literature on the Irish experience in Britain reveals high levels of social deprivation and poor health, some of which has been attributed to prejudice and discrimination, the legacy of a colonial relationship. Other commentators have suggested the more interwoven complexities for Irish migrants in Britain of maintaining an authentic identity. In this paper we explore the myth of return, encompassing notions of identity and settlement for this cohort of Irish people, now in the latter part of their lives. They discuss complex, conflicting attitudes to 'home' and belonging. We used focus groups and semi-structured in-depth interviews to explore their reasons for, and experience of, migration and their attitudes to the possibility of return. Many of the informants, particularly single men, detailed their lives as exiles, unable to return to Ireland and poorly connected to British life. They describe a state of disconnection to both worlds. Others have been able to obtain, over time, a relatively contented existence in the UK.

The use of traditional healing and traditional healers among ethnic minority psychiatric patients remains little explored in the U.K. Using qualitative and quantitative methodology, this article examines the use of traditional healing among 25 South Asian psychiatric patients in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Twenty-eight percent of the sample had resorted to a traditional healer during their psychiatric illness. Five case studies are presented which illustrate the various forms of traditional healing used. Although the numbers are small, the study suggests that South Asian psychiatric patients in Britain do resort to traditional forms of healing in collaboration with western psychiatric treatments. Asian patients use a number of treatments concurrently, although they may often not always understand how the treatments work. Humoral theories are commonly posited to explain mental illness and foods are commonly used in treatment. Only the age of the patient was significantly related to the use of a traditional healer. These findings are discussed in relation to globalization.