From Kraepelin to a modern and integrative scientific discipline: The development of transcultural psychiatry in Germany

Abstract

The roots of transcultural psychiatry in Germany can be traced back to Emil Kraepelin, who made the first culturally comparative observations on mental disorders in Southeast Asia at the start of the 20th century. Since the beginning of the 1970s, contributors to the literature of transcultural psychiatry in Germany have been predominantly concerned with the mental health of migrant workers from Mediterranean countries, particularly the practical difficulties and therapeutic implications of inpatient psychiatric treatment of these migrant groups. The inauguration of the Section on Transcultural Psychiatry of the German Association for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy 20 years ago reflected an increasing scientific interest in this topic. In addition to the psychic impact of migration, research into transcultural care is currently focused on disparities in the utilization of health care and conjectured barriers to access to health and mental health care among migrants. Furthermore, studies based on epidemiological approaches have been carried out in order to resolve the question of whether migrants are as affected by mental disorders as the ethnic German population, and which issues contribute to the so-called "healthy migrant" effect. Other topics that have been explored in the last 10 years are the particular psychosocial situation of asylum seekers and refugees in Germany, and the effects of inadequate integration and discrimination on their mental health. In summary, after a short historical and theoretical overview, this article reviews the current major themes in transcultural research in German contemporary psychiatry, and concludes with an overview of future developments in this field.

The Foundation of An Upcoming Civilization Able To Reach Its Fulfillment Within The Ecological Limits of The Earth: The Eternal Order

“…However, at the same time, phenomena like near death (NDEs), out of body experiences (OBEs), and extra-sensory perception also exist, which cannot be interpreted within the traditional materialistic theoretical frame. Taking together the unsolved questions of neuroscience as the hard problem, and the existence of such phenomena as NDEs and OBEs, an ever increasing number of studies and books appear, which already utilize the transcendental approach (Brabant, 2016;Bravo & Grob, 1989;Cardena, 2016;Chalmers, 1995;Dein & Bhui, 2013;Eccles, 1994;Eccles & Popper, 1977;Facco, Lucangeli, & Tressoldi, 2017;Frecska & Luna, 2006;Goswami, 1993;Hameroff & Penrose, 2014;Kelly et al, 2007;Lanza & Berman, 2009Machleidt & Sieberer, 2013;Morris, 2001;Neppe & Close, 2014;Noda, 2011;Parnia & Fenwick, 2002;Schwartz & Begley, 2002;Varela, 1996;V ızi, 2005). One of the latest books is the Transcendent Mind, published by the rather conservative American Psychological Association.…”

Who Was Emil Kraepelin and Why Do We Remember Him 160 Years Later?

“…At least sometimes he might felt like an anthropologist from Mars. Nevertheless, it was Kraepelin who founded the comparative psychiatry in the search of cross-cultural similarities and differences in the expression of mental disorders (Jilek 1995, Machleidt & Sieberer 2013. Kraepelin inquired and analysed clinical data from the asylum at Buitenzorg (Bogor) on the major Indonesian island of Java finding that dementia praecox and other mental disturbances were occurring with approximately the same frequency as in European countries (Kraepelin 1904).…”

Some comparative psychiatric studies in the 19th century

“…Other authors have located the real beginnings of cross-cultural psychiatry in the period after World War II (Bains, 2005), with developments in social psychiatry (Wittkower & Rin, 1965) and ethnology as well. Today a major focus of crosscultural psychiatry is on the consequences of globalization for mental health, and, especially, on the care of migrants (Kirmayer & Minas, 2000;Knischewitzki, Machleidt, & Calliess, 2013;Machleidt & Sieberer, 2013;Mastrogianni & Bhugra, 2003). Kraepelin's role as a founder of cross-cultural psychiatry has been reevaluated (Steinberg, 2015).…”